Methods of enhancing the resistance of plants to bacterial pathogens

ABSTRACT

Methods are provided for enhancing the resistance of plants to bacterial pathogens. The methods involve transforming a plant with a polynucleotide molecule comprising a plant promoter operably linked to a nucleotide sequence that encodes a plant receptor that binds specifically with bacterial elongation factor-Tu. Further provided are expression cassettes, transformed plants, seeds, and plant cells that are produced by such methods.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/110,618, filed Nov. 3, 2008, and U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 61/187,505, filed Jun. 16, 2009; both of which arehereby incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the field of agricultural biotechnology,particularly to methods for enhancing the resistance of plants tobacterial pathogens.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Plants are under constant attack from a range of pathogens, yet diseasesymptoms are comparatively rare. Cell-autonomous innate immunity ensureseach plant cell has the ability to respond to pathogen attack. Incontrast, animals use a circulatory system to ensure full spatialcoverage of innate immunity, while jawed vertebrates have supplementedthis defense through the evolution of an adaptive immune system. Despitethe presence of similar innate immunity strategies in plants andanimals, the precise epitopes perceived differ. Thus, instead ofdivergent evolution from a common ancestor, any similarities are likelyto be a result of convergent evolution (Zipfel and Felix, G. (2005)Current Opinion in Plant Biology 8:353-360; Ausubel (2005) NatureImmunology 6:973-979). In plants, innate immunity consists of three maindefense systems: physical, local and systemic. Physical defense includethe waxy cuticle and rigid cell wall, as well as secondary metabolitesand enzymes possessing anti-microbial properties. This defense ispartially breached by stomata or through wounding. Recognition at thelocal level then relies on the specific perception of microbialcompounds. Pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs) recognisepathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), resulting inPAMP-triggered immunity (PTI). Virulent pathogens secrete effectors intothe plant cytosol to suppress PTI. However resistance (R) proteinsperceive these microbial effectors to prompt effector-triggered immunity(ETI). These defenses may be breached by further pathogen effectorsdesigned to suppress ETI. The ‘zig-zag’ model summarises these molecularinteractions as five phases occurring over the dynamic coevolutionbetween the plant and its pathogens (Jones and Dangl (2006) Nature444:323-328; Chisholm et al. (2006) Cell 124: 803-814). In addition,systemic defense responses induced by PAMPs and/or effector proteinsprepare naïve tissues for further attack. Together these three facetsform an effective defensive network responsible for the phenomenonwhereby most plants are resistant to a majority of microbes (Nürnbergeret al. (2004) Immunological Reviews 198:249-266).

The primary immune response to bacterial invasion that results in PTIbegins with the recognition of PAMPs by PPRs. PTI comprises numerouswell-characterized responses including increases in calcium, ethylene,reactive oxygen species (ROS) and extracellular pH, activation ofmitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades and defense geneexpression, deposition of callose, and the inhibition of seedling growth(Ma and Berkowitz (2007) Cellular Microbiology 9:2571-2585; Chisholm etal. (2006) Cell 124:803-814; Nürnberger et al. (2004) ImmunologicalReviews 198:249-266). These responses are common to elicitation by manybacterial PAMPs, as well as those from fungi and oomycetes. Thus PAMPsare conserved microbial feature which indicate generic danger; it isunlikely the signal conveys information that would allow the plant todistinguish between pathogens (Zipfel et al. (2006) Cell 125:749-760).

Over recent years, many potential plant PAMPs have been discovered,whereas the corresponding PRRs have been harder to identify. It hasbecome clear that the breadth of perception of individual PAMPs differsdramatically. Out of the bacterial PAMPs, flagellin is recognised bymost plant species whereas responses to elongation factor-Tu (EF-Tu) andthe cold-shock protein CSP are restricted to the families Brassicaceaeand Solanaceae respectively (Zipfel and Felix, G. (2005) Current Opinionin Plant Biology 8:353-360). This difference in perception is indicativeof divergent evolution between plant families. An evolutionary arms raceoccurs whereby the bacterial PAMP evolves to avoid recognition while theplant PRR counter-evolves to increase sensitivity. However plants canperceive multiple PAMPs per microbe. The plant model Arabidopsisthaliana (At), for example, can perceive the bacterial PAMPs flagellin,EF-Tu, lipopolysacharides (LPS) and peptidoglycans (PGN), as well as thefungal PAMPs chitin octamers and ethylene-inducing xylanase (EIX).However the Arabidopsis thaliana receptors responsible for thisrecognition have so far only been identified for flagellin and EF-Tu. Intomato, the receptor LeEIX1/2 perceives chitin, while the rice receptorCEBiP recognises EIX (Kaku et al. (2006) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA103:11086-1109; Ron and Avni (2004) Plant Cell 16:1604-1615). Butalthough clear homologues exist in At, their role is not proven. Howeverthe receptor-like kinase, CERK1 (also known as LysM RLK1) is essentialfor chitin elicitor signaling in Arabidopsis thaliana (Miya et al.(2007) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:19613-19618; Wan et al. (2008) PlantCell 20:471-381). Meanwhile plant receptors for LPS and PGN are stillentirely unknown. (Newman et al. (2007) Journal of Endotoxin Research13:69-84; Gust et al. (2007) J Biol Chem 282:32338-48).

Despite the overall effectiveness of innate immunity, plant diseases arestill a major social and economic problem. There is a distinct need foreffective and stable disease control methods, particularly forProteobacteria which include the Pseudomonas and Xanthomonas genera.Bacteria of this phylum have a broad host range in which they causediverse symptoms affecting both crop yield and quality (Abramovitch etal. (2006) Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 7:601-611). There arethree main methods of human intervention. (i) Traditional approachesinclude: removing sources of infection; avoiding and controlling vectorsby altering the time of sowing and using chemical sprays; and bybreeding for increased resistance. (ii) Biotechnological approachesinclude producing pathogen-free seed and using biological controlmethods to help prevent epidemics. (iii) The third method of control isthrough transgenics. This powerful technique can be used to enhanceplant immunity through the expression of additional genes. Transgenicplants may express plant-derived proteins such as additional receptors,signalling molecules, or antimicrobial peptides, or they may expresspathogen-derived protein such as effectors. This project focuses on thepotential for improving disease resistance through the transgenicexpression of additional PRRs.

The PRRs FLS2 and EF-Tu receptor (EFR) are remarkable for two reasons:so far they are the only PRRs found in Arabidopsis thaliana and they arethe only known PRRs for bacterial PAMPs (Zipfel et al. (2004) Nature428: 764-767; Zipfel et al. (2006) Cell 125:749-760). Both belong to theleucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase (LRR-RLK) family containingmembers which possess a common domain structure. The LRR region is knownto be a key protein recognition motif in a vast variety of proteinfamilies (Kobe and Kajava (2001) Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol. 11:725-732).In PRR genes, the LRR domain is extracellular and is thought to providethe structural framework that mediates crucial protein-proteininteractions. For example, the LRR in FLS2 contains residues essentialfor flg22 binding, enabling perception of flagellin (Chinchilla et al.(2006) The Plant Cell 18:465-476; Dunning et al. (2007) The Plant Cell19:3297-3313). The LRR domain contains tandem copies of a LRR repeat.One LRR repeat is 20-29 residues long and contains the conserved11-amino acid motif: LxxLxLxxN/CxL, where x can be any amino acid and Lcan be substituted for other hydrophobic residues in more irregularrepeats (Kobe and Kajava (2001) Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol. 11:725-732).The LRR repeats are arranged so all secondary structures are parallel toa common axis, resulting in a horseshoe shape. Members of this familyalso contain a single-pass transmembrane domain and an intracellularSer/Thr kinase domain which is related to Pelle in Drosophila (Shiu etal. (2001) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 98:10763-10768). Interestingly, thisis the same structure as class IV R genes such as Xa21 present in rice(Song et al. (1995) Science 270:1804-1806). This implies that R genesare adapted from more ancient PRR genes. Thus it would appear thatevents in the ‘zig-zag’ model occur in the order they evolved(Nürnberger et al. (2004) Immunological Reviews 198:249-266).

Recently, the EF-Tu receptor (EFR) was identified in Arabidopsis (Zipfelet al. (2006) Cell 125:749-760). EFR is a receptor kinase that isresponsible for perception of EF-Tu. EFR recognizes a region of 18amino-acids at the N-acetylated terminus of eubacterial EF-Tu that ishighly conserved (Kunze et al. (2004) The Plant Cell 16:3496-3507;Zipfel et al. (2006) Cell 125:749-760). Notably eubacterial EF-Tu isdifferent than the EF-Tu that are present in plant mitochondria andplastids, thus restricting EFR to only recognising ‘non-self’. Previoustransient expression of AtEFR in Nicotiana benthamiana (Nb) showed thatEFR is sufficient for EF-Tu responsiveness and that signallingcomponents downstream of PRRs are conserved across plant families(Zipfel et al. (2006) Cell 125:749-760). However, it was unknown whetherthe stable expression of EPR confers recognition of EF-Tu epitope elf18on a transformed plants and triggers activation of basal immuneresponses therein. It was also unknown whether this transformed plantsthat stably express EPR can also recognise EF-Tu present in wholepathogenic bacteria leading to enhanced disease resistance to bacterialpathogens.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Methods are provided for enhancing the resistance of plants to bacterialpathogens. The methods involve transforming a plant cell with apolynucleotide construct comprising a nucleotide sequence that encodesan EF-Tu receptor (EFR). The polynucleotide construct further comprisesa promoter that drives expression in the plant and that is operablylinked to the nucleotide sequence encoding EFR. The methods furtherinvolve regenerating a transformed plant from the transformed plantcell. The transformed plant of the present invention displays enhancedresistance to at least one bacterial pathogen.

Additionally provided are expression cassettes, plants, plant parts,seeds, plant cells and other non-human host cells that are produced bythe methods of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1. Production of an oxidative burst in wild-type and EFR transgenicN. benthamiana. The peak of luminescence corresponds to the release ofreactive oxygen species in response to 100 nM elf18 or flg22 inwild-type or EFR (#18) Nb plants. Values are an average±SE (n=12).

FIG. 2. Expression of early defense marker genes in wild-type and EFRtransgenic N. benthamiana. RT-PCR reveals the extent of defense markergene induction at timepoints of 0, 30, 60 and 180 min following elf18 orflg22 treatment. Constitutively expressed EF-1α serves as a loadingcontrol.

FIG. 3. Seedling growth inhibition in wild-type and EFR transgenic N.benthamiana. Seedling fresh weight is measured to detect if growthinhibition has occurred. Nb seedlings are treated with a serial dilutionof elf18 (A) or flg22 (C). Likewise Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings aretreated with the same dilutions of elf18 (B) or flg22 (D). Results showncorrespond to an average±SE (n=8).

FIG. 4. Bacterial susceptibility in wild-type and EFR transgenic N.benthamiana. Bacterial growth curves of 4 different pathovars inoculatedby spraying over 4 days. Data plotted represents an average±SE (n=4).

FIG. 5. Disease symptoms in wild-type and EFR transgenic N. benthamianaplants. Leaves and whole plant photos taken 10 days afterspray-inoculation with Pss B728a (A and E), Pstab 11528 (B).

FIG. 6. Susceptibility of wild-type and EFR transgenic N. benthamiana totransgenic (GV3101/pBIN19-35S::GUS-HA) and wild-type tumorigenic (A281)Agrobacterium tumefaciens. (A) Quantitative analysis of transient GUSexpression 2 days after agro-infiltration. (B) Pictures of crown galls 3weeks following stem stabbing with A281. (C) Average fresh weight ofexcised galls (n=15)±SE (C).

FIG. 7. Amino acid sequences of Elf18 peptides from diversephytopathogenic bacteria.

FIG. 8. Elf18 peptides from diverse phytopathogenic bacteria are activeas PAMPs.

FIG. 9. Transgenic EFR tomato (Solanum lycopersicum cv. Moneymaker)plants are more resistant to bacterial wilt caused by Ralstoniasolanacearum GMI1000.

FIG. 10. Results of dip growth assay of two T3 Solanum lycopersicum cv.Moneymaker lines [L(16) and P(1)] transgenic for 35S::EFR withXanthomonas perforans T4 strain 4B [Xp(T4)-4B] at 14 days postinoculation (dpi), replication 1. As a positive control, S. lycopersicumcv. VF36 expressing the major dominant R gene Bs2 from pepper wassimultaneously infected. Negative controls are non-transgenic Moneymakerand VF36.

FIG. 11. Results of dip growth assay of two T3 Solanum lycopersicum cv.Moneymaker lines [L(16) and P(1)] transgenic for 35S::EFR withXanthomonas perforans T4 strain 4B [Xp(T4)-4B] at 14 days postinoculation (dpi), replication 2. As a positive control, S. lycopersicumcv. VF36 expressing the major dominant R gene Bs2 from pepper wassimultaneously infected. Negative controls are non-transgenic Moneymakerand VF36.

SEQUENCE LISTING

The nucleotide and amino acid sequences listed in the accompanyingsequence listing are shown using standard letter abbreviations fornucleotide bases, and three-letter code for amino acids. The nucleotidesequences follow the standard convention of beginning at the 5′ end ofthe sequence and proceeding forward (i.e., from left to right in eachline) to the 3′ end. Only one strand of each nucleic acid sequence isshown, but the complementary strand is understood to be included by anyreference to the displayed strand. The amino acid sequences follow thestandard convention of beginning at the amino terminus of the sequenceand proceeding forward (i.e., from left to right in each line) to thecarboxy terminus.

SEQ ID NO: 1 sets forth the full-length coding sequence of the AtEFRgene. The coding sequence of the AtEFR gene corresponds to Accession No.NM_(—)122055.

SEQ ID NO: 2 sets forth the AtEFR amino acid sequence that is encoded bySEQ ID NO: 1.

SEQ ID NO: 3 sets forth the full-length coding sequence of the AtEFRgene minus the stop codon. Nucleotides 1-3093 of SEQ ID NO: 3 correspondto nucleotides 1-3093 of SEQ ID NO: 1. If desired, a stop codon can beadded to the 3′ end of the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 3 or anyother coding sequence that lacks a stop codon. Such stop codons include,for example, TAA, TAG, and TGA.

SEQ ID NO: 4 sets forth the genomic sequence of the AtEFR gene. TheAtEFR gene corresponds to locus At5g20480 of the Arabidopsis genome. Thestart codon begins at nucleotide 1081 of SEQ ID NO: 4.

SEQ ID NO: 5 sets forth the nucleotide sequence of the AtEFR promoter.Nucleotides 1-1080 of SEQ ID NO: 5 correspond to nucleotides 1-1080 ofSEQ ID NO: 4.

SEQ ID NO: 6 sets forth the amino acid sequence of EF-Tu epitope elf18from Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris 8004 and Xanthomonascampestris pv. campestris B100.

SEQ ID NO: 7 sets forth the amino acid sequence of EF-Tu epitope elf18from Xanthomonas campestris pv. musacearum, Xanthomonas axononpodis pv.citri, Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria 85-10, and Xanthomonasoryzae pv. oryzae MAFF311018.

SEQ ID NO: 8 sets forth the amino acid sequence of EF-Tu epitope elf18from Ralstonia solanacearum.

SEQ ID NO: 9 sets forth the amino acid sequence of EF-Tu epitope elf18from Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000.

SEQ ID NO: 10 sets forth the amino acid sequence of EF-Tu epitope elf18from Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola 1448a, Pseudomonas syringaepv. syringae B728a, and Pseudomonas fluorescens ND-1.

SEQ ID NO: 11 sets forth the amino acid sequence of EF-Tu epitope elf18from Pseudomonas fluorescens Pf-5.

SEQ ID NO: 12 sets forth the amino acid sequence of EF-Tu epitope elf18from Pectobacterium atrosepticum and Dickeya.

SEQ ID NO: 13 sets forth the amino acid sequence of EF-Tu epitope elf18from Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus str. Psy62.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is based on the discovery that transgenicexpression of a Brassicaceae EFR gene in Nicotiana benthamiana, aSolanaceous plant, enhances the resistance of the plant to bacterialpathogens. EFR is a pattern-recognition receptor (PRR) that bindsspecifically with eubacterial EF-Tu, and it is this binding in vivo isthat is believed to result in a number of defense responses that areassociated with PAMP-triggered immunity (PTI). Because eubacterial EF-Tuis not known to cause PTI in plants outside of the Brassicaceae family,the discovery that the transgenic expression of a Brassicaceae EFR in anon-Brassicaceae plant causes PTI was surprising. Although the presentinvention is not bound by any particular biological mechanism, theBrassicaceae EFR likely causes PTI by a biological mechanism innon-Brassicaceae plants that is similar to the biological mechanism ofBrassicaceae plants.

The methods of the present invention find use in agriculture,particularly in the development of crop plants with enhanced resistanceto plant diseases. Such crop plants include resistant and susceptibleplant varieties. Such resistant plant varieties may, for example,comprise one or more R genes that are introduced into the plantvarieties by conventional plant breeding methods and/or viatransformation involving recombinant DNA.

The present invention provides methods for enhancing the resistance ofplants to bacterial pathogens. The methods involve transforming a plantcell with a polynucleotide construct comprising a nucleotide sequencethat encodes a eubacterial EF-Tu receptor (EFR) and regenerating atransformed plant therefrom. As disclosed herein below, the domain ofEF-Tu that interacts with EFR to initiate PTI is highly conserved acrosseubacterial EF-Tu proteins. Therefore, the methods of the presentinvention are expected to enhance a resistance of a plant to more thanjust one or two bacterial pathogens.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the nucleotide sequence thatencodes an EFR is a nucleotide sequence that encodes the EFR referred toherein as AtEFR, which is the EFR that corresponds to locus At5g20480 ofthe Arabidopsis genome. Nucleotide sequences encoding AtEFR include, butare not limited to, the nucleotide sequences set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1,3, and 4, and a nucleotide sequence encoding the amino acid sequence setforth in SEQ ID NO: 2.

In other embodiments, the nucleotide sequence encoding an EFR homolog isselected from the group consisting of the coding sequences thatcorrespond to loci AT3G47110, AT5G39390, AT3G47580, AT3G47570,AT3G47090, and AT2G24130 of the Arabidopsis genome. The loci of theArabidopsis genome and the corresponding amino acid sequences can befound at The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR)(http://www.arabidopsis.org/) and GenBank(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Genbank/).

Preferably, the methods of the present invention enhance the resistanceof a plant to one or more eubacterial pathogens. More preferably, themethods of the present invention enhance the resistance of a plant totwo, three, four, five, or more eubacterial pathogens. Most preferrably,the methods of the present invention enhance the resistance of a plantto all eubacterial pathogens that can cause disease symptoms on a likeplant that has not been enhanced by the methods disclosed herein. Such a“like plant” is the same species a plant of the invention that has beenenhanced for disease resistance by the methods disclosed herein.Preferably, such a “like plant” is the same variety or cultivar as theenhanced plant of the invention.

Unless stated otherwise or apparent from the context, “eubacterialpathogens” are plant pathogens that are “eubacteria”, which are alsoknown as “true bacteria”. It is recognized that “eubacteria” refers toall bacteria except for archaebacteria.

In the methods of the present invention, the polynucleotide constructfurther comprises a promoter that drives expression in the plant andthat is operably linked to the nucleotide sequence encoding EFR. Thepresent invention does not depend on a particular promoter. The promotercan be the native EFR promoter or a promoter from another plant ornon-plant gene that is capable of driving expression of the operablylinked EFR coding sequences in the plant of interest at the desired timeand location in the plant. Such promoters include, but are not limitedto, constitutive promoters, pathogen-inducible promoters,tissue-preferred promoters, and chemical-regulated promoters.

For expression of the EFR protein in a plant or plant cells, the methodsof the invention involve transforming a plant with a polynucleotideconstruct of the present invention that comprises a nucleotide sequenceencoding the EFR protein. Such a nucleotide sequence can be operablylinked to a promoter that drives expression in a plant cell. The presentinvention does not depend on a particular promoter. The promoter can bethe native EFR promoter or a promoter from another plant or non-plantgene that is capable of driving expression of the operably linked EFRcoding sequences in the plant of interest at the desired time andlocation in the plant. Any promoter known in the art can be used in themethods of the invention including, but not limited to, the native EFRpromoter, constitutive promoters, pathogen-inducible promoters,wound-inducible promoters, tissue-preferred promoters, andchemical-regulated promoters. The choice of promoter will depend on thedesired timing and location of expression in the transformed plant orother factors. In one embodiment of the invention, the native AtEFRpromoter—either in its native genomic linkage to the downstream AtEFRgene sequences or as part of a recombinant nucleic acid molecule furthercomprising a AtEFR coding sequence—is employed to express the EFRprotein in a plant. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, thepromoter is the AtEFR promoter comprising the nucleotide sequence setforth in SEQ ID NO: 5.

The methods for enhancing the resistance of a plant to at least onebacterial pathogen find use in the development of improved crop, fruit,and ornamental plant varieties. Such plant varieties will displayenhanced resistance to one or more bacterial pathogens, thereby reducingthe need for the application of potentially harmful chemical pesticideswhen compared to similar plant varieties that have not been enhanced bythe methods disclosed herein.

In other embodiments, the methods can involve additional R genes toincrease plant resistance to a single plant pathogen or increase plantresistant to different plant pathogen. Such genes typically encodeproteins containing leucine-rich repeats (LRRs). Such R proteins cancontain transmembrane domains, or can be localized intracellularly. Inaddition, many R proteins contain nucleotide-binding (NB) domains (alsoreferred to as P-loops), Toll-interleukin-1 receptor (TIR) domains, orprotein kinase domains in various combinations. R genes have beenisolated from a wide range of plant species, including Arabidopsis,flax, maize, rice, wheat, soybean, tomato, potato, and others (reviewedin, for example: Ellis et al. (2000) Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. 3:278-84;Jones and Dangl (2006) Nature 444:323-29; Bent and Mackey (2007) Annu.Rev. Phytopathol. 45:399-436; Tameling and Takken (2008) Eur. J. PlantPathol. 121:243-255. In one embodiment of the invention, a pepper plantcomprising at least one Bs2 resistance gene, at least one Bs3 resistancegene, or at least one Bs2 resistance gene and at least one Bs3resistance gene is used in the methods disclosed herein. The nucleotidesequences of Bs2 and Bs3 have been previously disclosed. See, U.S. Pat.Nos. 6,262,343 and 6,762,285, (Tai et al. (1999) Proc Natl. Acad. Sci.USA 96:14153-14158), and Römer et al. (2007) Science 318:645-648; eachof which is herein incorporated by reference.

The invention encompasses the use of isolated or substantially purifiedpolynucleotide or protein compositions. An “isolated” or “purified”polynucleotide or protein, or biologically active portion thereof, issubstantially or essentially free from components that normallyaccompany or interact with the polynucleotide or protein as found in itsnaturally occurring environment. Thus, an isolated or purifiedpolynucleotide or protein is substantially free of other cellularmaterial or culture medium when produced by recombinant techniques, orsubstantially free of chemical precursors or other chemicals whenchemically synthesized. Optimally, an “isolated” polynucleotide is freeof sequences (optimally protein encoding sequences) that naturally flankthe polynucleotide (i.e., sequences located at the 5′ and 3′ ends of thepolynucleotide) in the genomic DNA of the organism from which thepolynucleotide is derived. For example, in various embodiments, theisolated polynucleotide can contain less than about 5 kb, 4 kb, 3 kb, 2kb, 1 kb, 0.5 kb, or 0.1 kb of nucleotide sequence that naturally flankthe polynucleotide in genomic DNA of the cell from which thepolynucleotide is derived. A protein that is substantially free ofcellular material includes preparations of protein having less thanabout 30%, 20%, 10%, 5%, or 1% (by dry weight) of contaminating protein.When the protein of the invention or biologically active portion thereofis recombinantly produced, optimally culture medium represents less thanabout 30%, 20%, 10%, 5%, or 1% (by dry weight) of chemical precursors ornon-protein-of-interest chemicals.

Fragments and variants of the disclosed EFR polynucleotides and proteinsencoded thereby are also encompassed by the present invention. By“fragment” is intended a portion of the polynucleotide or a portion ofthe amino acid sequence and hence protein encoded thereby. Fragments ofa polynucleotides comprising coding sequences may encode proteinfragments that retain biological activity of the native protein andhence EFR activity. Alternatively, fragments of a polynucleotide thatare useful as hybridization probes generally do not encode proteins thatretain biological activity or do not retain promoter activity. Thus,fragments of a nucleotide sequence may range from at least about 20nucleotides, about 50 nucleotides, about 100 nucleotides, and up to thefull-length polynucleotide of the invention.

A fragment of an EFR polynucleotide that encodes a biologically activeportion of an EFR protein of the invention will encode at least 15, 25,30, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, or 300 contiguous amino acids, or up to thetotal number of amino acids present in a full-length EFR protein of theinvention (for example, 1031 amino acids for SEQ ID NO: 2). Fragments ofan EFR polynucleotide that are useful as hybridization probes or PCRprimers generally need not encode a biologically active portion of anEFR protein or EFR promoter.

Thus, a fragment of an EFR polynucleotide may encode a biologicallyactive portion of an EFR protein or an EFR promoter, or it may be afragment that can be used as a hybridization probe or PCR primer usingmethods disclosed below. A biologically active portion of an EFR proteincan be prepared by isolating a portion of one of the an EFRpolynucleotides of the invention, expressing the encoded portion of thean EFR protein (e.g., by recombinant expression in vivo), and assessingthe activity of the encoded portion of the EFR protein. Polynucleotidesthat are fragments of an EFR nucleotide sequence comprise at least 16,20, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350, 400, 450, 500, 550, 600, 650,700, 800, 900, 1000, 1100, 1200, 1300, 1400, 1500, 2000, 2500, or 3000contiguous nucleotides, or up to the number of nucleotides present in afull-length EFR polynucleotide disclosed herein (for example, 3096,3093, and 4563 nucleotides for SEQ ID NO: 1, 3, and 4, respectively).

“Variants” is intended to mean substantially similar sequences. Forpolynucleotides, a variant comprises a polynucleotide having deletions(i.e., truncations) at the 5′ and/or 3′ end; deletion and/or addition ofone or more nucleotides at one or more internal sites in the nativepolynucleotide; and/or substitution of one or more nucleotides at one ormore sites in the native polynucleotide. As used herein, a “native”polynucleotide or polypeptide comprises a naturally occurring nucleotidesequence or amino acid sequence, respectively. For polynucleotides,conservative variants include those sequences that, because of thedegeneracy of the genetic code, encode the amino acid sequence of one ofthe EFR polypeptides of the invention. Naturally occurring allelicvariants such as these can be identified with the use of well-knownmolecular biology techniques, as, for example, with polymerase chainreaction (PCR) and hybridization techniques as outlined below. Variantpolynucleotides also include synthetically derived polynucleotides, suchas those generated, for example, by using site-directed mutagenesis butwhich still encode an EFR protein of the invention. Generally, variantsof a particular polynucleotide of the invention will have at least about40%, 45%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%,94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99% or more sequence identity to thatparticular polynucleotide as determined by sequence alignment programsand parameters as described elsewhere herein.

Variants of a particular polynucleotide of the invention (i.e., thereference polynucleotide) can also be evaluated by comparison of thepercent sequence identity between the polypeptide encoded by a variantpolynucleotide and the polypeptide encoded by the referencepolynucleotide. Thus, for example, an isolated polynucleotide thatencodes a polypeptide with a given percent sequence identity to thepolypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 2. Percent sequence identity between any twopolypeptides can be calculated using sequence alignment programs andparameters described elsewhere herein. Where any given pair ofpolynucleotides of the invention is evaluated by comparison of thepercent sequence identity shared by the two polypeptides they encode,the percent sequence identity between the two encoded polypeptides is atleast about 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%,96%, 97%, 98%, 99% or more sequence identity.

“Variant” protein is intended to mean a protein derived from the nativeprotein by deletion (so-called truncation) of one or more amino acids atthe N-terminal and/or C-terminal end of the native protein; deletionand/or addition of one or more amino acids at one or more internal sitesin the native protein; or substitution of one or more amino acids at oneor more sites in the native protein. Variant proteins encompassed by thepresent invention are biologically active, that is they continue topossess the desired biological activity of the native protein, that is,they sense the presence of a bacterial EF-Tu peptide and trigger plantdisease resistance responses as described herein. The biologicalactivity of variant proteins of the invention can be assayed, forexample, by Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression in Nicotianabenthamiana followed by measurement of the oxidative burst triggered byelf18, as described in Zipfel et al. (2006) Cell 125:749-760. This sameassay can also be conducted using Arabidopsis thaliana efr-1 leavesinstead of Nicotiana benthamiana leaves. Such variants may result from,for example, genetic polymorphism or from human manipulation.Biologically active variants of a native EFR protein of the inventionwill have at least about 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 91%, 92%,93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99% or more sequence identity to the aminoacid sequence for the native protein as determined by sequence alignmentprograms and parameters described elsewhere herein. A biologicallyactive variant of a protein of the invention may differ from thatprotein by as few as 1-15 amino acid residues, as few as 1-10, such as6-10, as few as 5, as few as 4, 3, 2, or even 1 amino acid residue.

The biological activity of variant proteins of the invention can beassayed, for example, by Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression inNicotiana benthamiana followed by measurement of the oxidative bursttriggered by elf18, as described in Zipfel et al. (2006) Cell125:749-760. This same assay can also be conducted using Arabidopsisthaliana efr-1 leaves instead of Nicotiana benthamiana leaves.

The proteins of the invention may be altered in various ways includingamino acid substitutions, deletions, truncations, and insertions.Methods for such manipulations are generally known in the art. Forexample, amino acid sequence variants and fragments of the EFR proteinscan be prepared by mutations in the DNA. Methods for mutagenesis andpolynucleotide alterations are well known in the art. See, for example,Kunkel (1985) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 82:488-492; Kunkel et al.(1987) Methods in Enzymol. 154:367-382; U.S. Pat. No. 4,873,192; Walkerand Gaastra, eds. (1983) Techniques in Molecular Biology (MacMillanPublishing Company, New York) and the references cited therein. Guidanceas to appropriate amino acid substitutions that do not affect biologicalactivity of the protein of interest may be found in the model of Dayhoffet al. (1978) Atlas of Protein Sequence and Structure (Natl. Biomed.Res. Found., Washington, D.C.), herein incorporated by reference.Conservative substitutions, such as exchanging one amino acid withanother having similar properties, may be optimal.

Thus, the genes and polynucleotides of the invention include both thenaturally occurring sequences as well as mutant forms. Likewise, theproteins of the invention encompass both naturally occurring proteins aswell as variations and modified forms thereof. Such variants willcontinue to possess the desired EFR biological activity. Obviously, themutations that will be made in the DNA encoding the variant must notplace the sequence out of reading frame and optimally will not createcomplementary regions that could produce secondary mRNA structure. See,EP Patent Application Publication No. 75,444.

The deletions, insertions, and substitutions of the protein sequencesencompassed herein are not expected to produce radical changes in thecharacteristics of the protein. However, when it is difficult to predictthe exact effect of the substitution, deletion, or insertion in advanceof doing so, one skilled in the art will appreciate that the effect willbe evaluated by routine screening assays. That is, the EFR activity canbe evaluated by routine assays as described below.

An EFR is a plant receptor kinase that binds eubacterial EF-Tu. Whentrigged by EF-Tu, EFR can induce in a plant PAMP responses such as, forexample, enhanced binding of ethylene and induction of an oxidativeburst in the plant. For the present invention, a polypeptide comprisesEFR activity when said polypeptide is capable of binding with an EF-Tuand inducing one or more plant PAMP responses when the EFR is expressedin plant and exposed to an EF-Tu. Preferably, an EFR of the presentinvention will specifically bind to one or more EF-Tu epitope elf18selected from the group consisting of the elf18 epitopes having theamino acid sequences set forth SEQ ID NOS: 6-12. In a preferredembodiment the invention, an EFR of the present invention willspecifically bind to the EF-Tu epitope elf18 having the amino acidsequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 6, and optionally bind to one or moreadditional EF-Tu epitope elf18 selected from the group consisting of theelf18 epitopes having the amino acid sequences set forth SEQ ID NOS:7-12. See, Example 1 below. See also, Zipfel et al. (2006) Cell125:749-760 and Kunze et al. (2004) The Plant Cell 16:3496-3507; both ofwhich are herein incorporated by reference.

Variant polynucleotides and proteins also encompass sequences andproteins derived from a mutagenic and recombinogenic procedure such asDNA shuffling. Strategies for such DNA shuffling are known in the art.See, for example, Stemmer (1994) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA91:10747-10751; Stemmer (1994) Nature 370:389-391; Crameri et al. (1997)Nature Biotech. 15:436-438; Moore et al. (1997) J. Mol. Biol.272:336-347; Zhang et al. (1997) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA94:4504-4509; Crameri et al. (1998) Nature 391:288-291; and U.S. Pat.Nos. 5,605,793 and 5,837,458.

The polynucleotides of the invention can be used to isolatecorresponding sequences from other organisms, particularly other plants.In this manner, methods such as PCR, hybridization, and the like can beused to identify such sequences based on their sequence homology to thesequences set forth herein. Sequences isolated based on their sequenceidentity to the entire EFR sequences set forth herein or to variants andfragments thereof are encompassed by the present invention. Suchsequences include sequences that are orthologs of the disclosedsequences. “Orthologs” is intended to mean genes derived from a commonancestral gene and which are found in different species as a result ofspeciation. Genes found in different species are considered orthologswhen their nucleotide sequences and/or their encoded protein sequencesshare at least 60%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%,96%, 97%, 98%, 99%, or greater sequence identity. Functions of orthologsare often highly conserved among species. Thus, isolated polynucleotidesthat encode for an EFR protein and which hybridize under stringentconditions to at least one of the EFR polynucleotides disclosed herein,or to variants or fragments thereof, are encompassed by the presentinvention.

In a PCR approach, oligonucleotide primers can be designed for use inPCR reactions to amplify corresponding DNA sequences from cDNA orgenomic DNA extracted from any plant of interest. Methods for designingPCR primers and PCR cloning are generally known in the art and aredisclosed in Sambrook et al. (1989) Molecular Cloning: A LaboratoryManual (2d ed., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Plainview, N.Y.).See also Innis et al., eds. (1990) PCR Protocols: A Guide to Methods andApplications (Academic Press, New York); Innis and Gelfand, eds. (1995)PCR Strategies (Academic Press, New York); and Innis and Gelfand, eds.(1999) PCR Methods Manual (Academic Press, New York). Known methods ofPCR include, but are not limited to, methods using paired primers,nested primers, single specific primers, degenerate primers,gene-specific primers, vector-specific primers, partially-mismatchedprimers, and the like.

In hybridization techniques, all or part of a known polynucleotide isused as a probe that selectively hybridizes to other correspondingpolynucleotides present in a population of cloned genomic DNA fragmentsor cDNA fragments (i.e., genomic or cDNA libraries) from a chosenorganism. The hybridization probes may be genomic DNA fragments, cDNAfragments, RNA fragments, or other oligonucleotides, and may be labeledwith a detectable group such as ³²P, or any other detectable marker.Thus, for example, probes for hybridization can be made by labelingsynthetic oligonucleotides based on the EFR polynucleotides of theinvention. Methods for preparation of probes for hybridization and forconstruction of cDNA and genomic libraries are generally known in theart and are disclosed in Sambrook et al. (1989) Molecular Cloning: ALaboratory Manual (2d ed., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press,Plainview, N.Y.).

For example, the entire EFR polynucleotide disclosed herein, or one ormore portions thereof, may be used as a probe capable of specificallyhybridizing to corresponding EFR polynucleotide and messenger RNAs. Toachieve specific hybridization under a variety of conditions, suchprobes include sequences that are unique among EFR polynucleotidesequences and are optimally at least about 10 nucleotides in length, andmost optimally at least about 20 nucleotides in length. Such probes maybe used to amplify corresponding EFR polynucleotides from a chosen plantby PCR. This technique may be used to isolate additional codingsequences from a desired plant or as a diagnostic assay to determine thepresence of coding sequences in a plant. Hybridization techniquesinclude hybridization screening of plated DNA libraries (either plaquesor colonies; see, for example, Sambrook et al. (1989) Molecular Cloning:A Laboratory Manual (2d ed., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press,Plainview, N.Y.).

Hybridization of such sequences may be carried out under stringentconditions. By “stringent conditions” or “stringent hybridizationconditions” is intended conditions under which a probe will hybridize toits target sequence to a detectably greater degree than to othersequences (e.g., at least 2-fold over background). Stringent conditionsare sequence-dependent and will be different in different circumstances.By controlling the stringency of the hybridization and/or washingconditions, target sequences that are 100% complementary to the probecan be identified (homologous probing). Alternatively, stringencyconditions can be adjusted to allow some mismatching in sequences sothat lower degrees of similarity are detected (heterologous probing).Generally, a probe is less than about 1000 nucleotides in length,optimally less than 500 nucleotides in length.

Typically, stringent conditions will be those in which the saltconcentration is less than about 1.5 M Na ion, typically about 0.01 to1.0 M Na ion concentration (or other salts) at pH 7.0 to 8.3 and thetemperature is at least about 30° C. for short probes (e.g., 10 to 50nucleotides) and at least about 60° C. for long probes (e.g., greaterthan 50 nucleotides). Stringent conditions may also be achieved with theaddition of destabilizing agents such as formamide. Exemplary lowstringency conditions include hybridization with a buffer solution of 30to 35% formamide, 1 M NaCl, 1% SDS (sodium dodecyl sulphate) at 37° C.,and a wash in 1× to 2×SSC (20×SSC=3.0 M NaCl/0.3 M trisodium citrate) at50 to 55° C. Exemplary moderate stringency conditions includehybridization in 40 to 45% formamide, 1.0 M NaCl, 1% SDS at 37° C., anda wash in 0.5× to 1×SSC at 55 to 60° C. Exemplary high stringencyconditions include hybridization in 50% formamide, 1 M NaCl, 1% SDS at37° C., and a wash in 0.1×SSC at 60 to 65° C. Optionally, wash buffersmay comprise about 0.1% to about 1% SDS. Duration of hybridization isgenerally less than about 24 hours, usually about 4 to about 12 hours.The duration of the wash time will be at least a length of timesufficient to reach equilibrium.

Specificity is typically the function of post-hybridization washes, thecritical factors being the ionic strength and temperature of the finalwash solution. For DNA-DNA hybrids, the T_(m) can be approximated fromthe equation of Meinkoth and Wahl (1984) Anal. Biochem. 138:267-284:T_(m)=81.5° C.+16.6(log M)+0.41(% GC)−0.61(% form)−500/L; where M is themolarity of monovalent cations, % GC is the percentage of guanosine andcytosine nucleotides in the DNA, % form is the percentage of formamidein the hybridization solution, and L is the length of the hybrid in basepairs. The T_(m) is the temperature (under defined ionic strength andpH) at which 50% of a complementary target sequence hybridizes to aperfectly matched probe. T_(m) is reduced by about 1° C. for each 1% ofmismatching; thus, T_(m), hybridization, and/or wash conditions can beadjusted to hybridize to sequences of the desired identity. For example,if sequences with >90% identity are sought, the T_(m) can be decreased10° C. Generally, stringent conditions are selected to be about 5° C.lower than the thermal melting point (T_(m)) for the specific sequenceand its complement at a defined ionic strength and pH. However, severelystringent conditions can utilize a hybridization and/or wash at 1, 2, 3,or 4° C. lower than the thermal melting point (T_(m)); moderatelystringent conditions can utilize a hybridization and/or wash at 6, 7, 8,9, or 10° C. lower than the thermal melting point (T_(m)); lowstringency conditions can utilize a hybridization and/or wash at 11, 12,13, 14, 15, or 20° C. lower than the thermal melting point (T_(m)).Using the equation, hybridization and wash compositions, and desiredT_(m), those of ordinary skill will understand that variations in thestringency of hybridization and/or wash solutions are inherentlydescribed. If the desired degree of mismatching results in a T_(m) ofless than 45° C. (aqueous solution) or 32° C. (formamide solution), itis optimal to increase the SSC concentration so that a highertemperature can be used. An extensive guide to the hybridization ofnucleic acids is found in Tijssen (1993) Laboratory Techniques inBiochemistry and Molecular Biology—Hybridization with Nucleic AcidProbes, Part I, Chapter 2 (Elsevier, N.Y.); and Ausubel et al., eds.(1995) Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, Chapter 2 (GreenePublishing and Wiley-Interscience, New York). See Sambrook et al. (1989)Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual (2d ed., Cold Spring HarborLaboratory Press, Plainview, N.Y.).

It is recognized that the methods of the present invention encompass theuse of polynucleotide molecules and proteins comprising a nucleotide oran amino acid sequence that is sufficiently identical to the nucleotidesequence of SEQ ID NOS: 1, 3, and/or 4, or to the amino acid sequence ofSEQ ID NO: 2. The term “sufficiently identical” is used herein to referto a first amino acid or nucleotide sequence that contains a sufficientor minimum number of identical or equivalent (e.g., with a similar sidechain) amino acid residues or nucleotides to a second amino acid ornucleotide sequence such that the first and second amino acid ornucleotide sequences have a common structural domain and/or commonfunctional activity. For example, amino acid or nucleotide sequencesthat contain a common structural domain having at least about 45%, 55%,or 65% identity, preferably 75% identity, more preferably 85%, 90%, 95%,96%, 97%, 98% or 99% identity are defined herein as sufficientlyidentical.

To determine the percent identity of two amino acid sequences or of twonucleic acids, the sequences are aligned for optimal comparisonpurposes. The percent identity between the two sequences is a functionof the number of identical positions shared by the sequences (i.e.,percent identity=number of identical positions/total number of positions(e.g., overlapping positions)×100). In one embodiment, the two sequencesare the same length. The percent identity between two sequences can bedetermined using techniques similar to those described below, with orwithout allowing gaps. In calculating percent identity, typically exactmatches are counted.

The determination of percent identity between two sequences can beaccomplished using a mathematical algorithm. A preferred, nonlimitingexample of a mathematical algorithm utilized for the comparison of twosequences is the algorithm of Karlin and Altschul (1990) Proc. Natl.Acad. Sci. USA 87:2264, modified as in Karlin and Altschul (1993) Proc.Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90:5873-5877. Such an algorithm is incorporatedinto the NBLAST and XBLAST programs of Altschul et al. (1990) J. Mol.Biol. 215:403. BLAST nucleotide searches can be performed with theNBLAST program, score=100, wordlength=12, to obtain nucleotide sequenceshomologous to the polynucleotide molecules of the invention. BLASTprotein searches can be performed with the XBLAST program, score=50,wordlength=3, to obtain amino acid sequences homologous to proteinmolecules of the invention. To obtain gapped alignments for comparisonpurposes, Gapped BLAST can be utilized as described in Altschul et al.(1997) Nucleic Acids Res. 25:3389. Alternatively, PSI-Blast can be usedto perform an iterated search that detects distant relationships betweenmolecules. See Altschul et al. (1997) supra. When utilizing BLAST,Gapped BLAST, and PSI-Blast programs, the default parameters of therespective programs (e.g., XBLAST and NBLAST) can be used. Seehttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Another preferred, non-limiting example ofa mathematical algorithm utilized for the comparison of sequences is thealgorithm of Myers and Miller (1988) CABIOS 4:11-17. Such an algorithmis incorporated into the ALIGN program (version 2.0), which is part ofthe GCG sequence alignment software package. When utilizing the ALIGNprogram for comparing amino acid sequences, a PAM120 weight residuetable, a gap length penalty of 12, and a gap penalty of 4 can be used.Alignment may also be performed manually by inspection.

Unless otherwise stated, sequence identity/similarity values providedherein refer to the value obtained using the full-length sequences ofthe invention and using multiple alignment by mean of the algorithmClustal W (Nucleic Acid Research, 22(22):4673-4680, 1994) using theprogram AlignX included in the software package Vector NTI Suite Version7 (InforMax, Inc., Bethesda, Md., USA) using the default parameters; orany equivalent program thereof. By “equivalent program” is intended anysequence comparison program that, for any two sequences in question,generates an alignment having identical nucleotide or amino acid residuematches and an identical percent sequence identity when compared to thecorresponding alignment generated by CLUSTALW (Version 1.83) usingdefault parameters (available at the European Bioinformatics Institutewebsite: http://www.ebi.ac.uk/Tools/clustalw/index.html.

The use herein of the terms “polynucleotide”, “polynucleotideconstruct”, “polynucleotide molecule” is not intended to limit thepresent invention to polynucleotides, polynucleotide constructs, andpolynucleotide molecules comprising DNA. Those of ordinary skill in theart will recognize that polynucleotides, polynucleotide constructs, andpolynucleotide molecules can comprise ribonucleotides and combinationsof ribonucleotides and deoxyribonucleotides. Such deoxyribonucleotidesand ribonucleotides include both naturally occurring molecules andsynthetic analogues. The polynucleotides, polynucleotide constructs, andpolynucleotide molecules of the invention also encompass all forms ofsequences including, but not limited to, single-stranded forms,double-stranded forms, hairpins, stem-and-loop structures, and the like.

The EFR polynucleotides of the invention comprising EFR protein codingsequences can be provided in expression cassettes for expression in theplant or other organism or non-human host cell of interest. The cassettewill include 5′ and 3′ regulatory sequences operably linked to a EFRpolynucleotide of the invention. “Operably linked” is intended to mean afunctional linkage between two or more elements. For example, anoperable linkage between a polynucleotide or gene of interest and aregulatory sequence (i.e., a promoter) is functional link that allowsfor expression of the polynucleotide of interest. Operably linkedelements may be contiguous or non-contiguous. When used to refer to thejoining of two protein coding regions, by operably linked is intendedthat the coding regions are in the same reading frame. The cassette mayadditionally contain at least one additional gene to be cotransformedinto the organism. Alternatively, the additional gene(s) can be providedon multiple expression cassettes. Such an expression cassette isprovided with a plurality of restriction sites and/or recombinationsites for insertion of the EFR polynucleotide to be under thetranscriptional regulation of the regulatory regions. The expressioncassette may additionally contain selectable marker genes.

By “gene of interest” is intended any nucleotide sequence that can beexpressed when operable linked to a promoter. A gene of interest of thepresent invention may, but need not, encode a protein. Unless statedotherwise or readily apparent from the context, when a gene of interestof the present invention is said to be operably linked to a promoter ofthe invention, the gene of interest does not by itself comprise afunctional promoter.

The expression cassette will include in the 5′-3′ direction oftranscription, a transcriptional and translational initiation region(i.e., a promoter), a EFR polynucleotide of the invention, and atranscriptional and translational termination region (i.e., terminationregion) functional in plants or other organism or non-human host cell.The regulatory regions (i.e., promoters, transcriptional regulatoryregions, and translational termination regions) and/or the EFRpolynucleotide of the invention may be native/analogous to the host cellor to each other. Alternatively, the regulatory regions and/or the EFRpolynucleotide of the invention may be heterologous to the host cell orto each other. As used herein, “heterologous” in reference to a sequenceis a sequence that originates from a foreign species, or, if from thesame species, is substantially modified from its native form incomposition and/or genomic locus by deliberate human intervention. Forexample, a promoter operably linked to a heterologous polynucleotide isfrom a species different from the species from which the polynucleotidewas derived, or, if from the same/analogous species, one or both aresubstantially modified from their original form and/or genomic locus, orthe promoter is not the native promoter for the operably linkedpolynucleotide. As used herein, a chimeric gene comprises a codingsequence operably linked to a transcription initiation region that isheterologous to the coding sequence.

While it may be optimal to express the EFR coding sequences usingheterologous promoters, the native promoter sequences or truncationsdescribed herein below may be used. Such constructs can changeexpression levels of the EFR protein in the plant or plant cell. Thus,the phenotype of the plant or plant cell can be altered. In oneembodiment of the invention, the AtEFR promoter is operably linked tothe AtEFR coding sequence.

The termination region may be native with the transcriptional initiationregion, may be native with the operably linked EFR polynucleotide ofinterest, may be native with the plant host, or may be derived fromanother source (i.e., foreign or heterologous) to the promoter, the EFRpolynucleotide of interest, the plant host, or any combination thereof.Convenient termination regions are available from the Ti-plasmid of A.tumefaciens, such as the octopine synthase and nopaline synthasetermination regions. See also Guerineau et al. (1991) Mol. Gen. Genet.262:141-144; Proudfoot (1991) Cell 64:671-674; Sanfacon et al. (1991)Genes Dev. 5:141-149; Mogen et al. (1990) Plant Cell 2:1261-1272; Munroeet al. (1990) Gene 91:151-158; Ballas et al. (1989) Nucleic Acids Res.17:7891-7903; and Joshi et al. (1987) Nucleic Acids Res. 15:9627-9639.

Where appropriate, the polynucleotides may be optimized for increasedexpression in the transformed plant. That is, the polynucleotides can besynthesized using plant-preferred codons for improved expression. See,for example, Campbell and Gowri (1990) Plant Physiol. 92:1-11 for adiscussion of host-preferred codon usage. Methods are available in theart for synthesizing plant-preferred genes. See, for example, U.S. Pat.Nos. 5,380,831, and 5,436,391, and Murray et al. (1989) Nucleic AcidsRes. 17:477-498, herein incorporated by reference.

Additional sequence modifications are known to enhance gene expressionin a cellular host. These include elimination of sequences encodingspurious polyadenylation signals, exon-intron splice site signals,transposon-like repeats, and other such well-characterized sequencesthat may be deleterious to gene expression. The G-C content of thesequence may be adjusted to levels average for a given cellular host, ascalculated by reference to known genes expressed in the host cell. Whenpossible, the sequence is modified to avoid predicted hairpin secondarymRNA structures.

The expression cassettes may additionally contain 5′ leader sequences.Such leader sequences can act to enhance translation. Translationleaders are known in the art and include: picornavirus leaders, forexample, EMCV leader (Encephalomyocarditis 5′ noncoding region)(Elroy-Stein et al. (1989) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86:6126-6130);potyvirus leaders, for example, TEV leader (Tobacco Etch Virus) (Gallieet al. (1995) Gene 165(2):233-238), MDMV leader (Maize Dwarf MosaicVirus) (Virology 154:9-20), and human immunoglobulin heavy-chain bindingprotein (BiP) (Macejak et al. (1991) Nature 353:90-94); untranslatedleader from the coat protein mRNA of alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV RNA 4)(Jobling et al. (1987) Nature 325:622-625); tobacco mosaic virus leader(TMV) (Gallie et al. (1989) in Molecular Biology of RNA, ed. Cech (Liss,New York), pp. 237-256); and maize chlorotic mottle virus leader (MCMV)(Lommel et al. (1991) Virology 81:382-385). See also, Della-Cioppa etal. (1987) Plant Physiol. 84:965-968.

In preparing the expression cassette, the various DNA fragments may bemanipulated, so as to provide for the DNA sequences in the properorientation and, as appropriate, in the proper reading frame. Towardthis end, adapters or linkers may be employed to join the DNA fragmentsor other manipulations may be involved to provide for convenientrestriction sites, removal of superfluous DNA, removal of restrictionsites, or the like. For this purpose, in vitro mutagenesis, primerrepair, restriction, annealing, resubstitutions, e.g., transitions andtransversions, may be involved.

A number of promoters can be used in the practice of the invention. Thepromoters can be selected based on the desired outcome. The nucleicacids can be combined with constitutive, tissue-preferred, or otherpromoters for expression in plants.

Such constitutive promoters include, for example, the core CaMV 35Spromoter (Odell et al. (1985) Nature 313:810-812); rice actin (McElroyet al. (1990) Plant Cell 2:163-171); ubiquitin (Christensen et al.(1989) Plant Mol. Biol. 12:619-632 and Christensen et al. (1992) PlantMol. Biol. 18:675-689); pEMU (Last et al. (1991) Theor. Appl. Genet.81:581-588); MAS (Velten et al. (1984) EMBO J. 3:2723-2730); ALSpromoter (U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,026), and the like. Other constitutivepromoters include, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,608,149; 5,608,144;5,604,121; 5,569,597; 5,466,785; 5,399,680; 5,268,463; 5,608,142; and6,177,611.

Tissue-preferred promoters can be utilized to target enhanced EFRexpression within a particular plant tissue. Such tissue-preferredpromoters include, but are not limited to, leaf-preferred promoters,root-preferred promoters, seed-preferred promoters, and stem-preferredpromoters. Tissue-preferred promoters include Yamamoto et al. (1997)Plant J. 12(2):255-265; Kawamata et al. (1997) Plant Cell Physiol.38(7):792-803; Hansen et al. (1997) Mol. Gen. Genet. 254(3):337-343;Russell et al. (1997) Transgenic Res. 6(2):157-168; Rinehart et al.(1996) Plant Physiol. 112(3):1331-1341; Van Camp et al. (1996) PlantPhysiol. 112(2):525-535; Canevascini et al. (1996) Plant Physiol.112(2):513-524; Yamamoto et al. (1994) Plant Cell Physiol.35(5):773-778; Lam (1994) Results Probl. Cell Differ. 20:181-196; Orozcoet al. (1993) Plant Mol. Biol. 23(6):1129-1138; Matsuoka et al. (1993)Proc Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90(20):9586-9590; and Guevara-Garcia et al.(1993) Plant J. 4(3):495-505. Such promoters can be modified, ifnecessary, for weak expression.

Generally, it will be beneficial to express the gene from an induciblepromoter, particularly from a pathogen-inducible promoter. Suchpromoters include those from pathogenesis-related proteins (PRproteins), which are induced following infection by a pathogen; e.g., PRproteins, SAR proteins, beta-1,3-glucanase, chitinase, etc. See, forexample, Redolfi et al. (1983) Neth. J. Plant Pathol. 89:245-254; Ukneset al. (1992) Plant Cell 4:645-656; and Van Loon (1985) Plant Mol.Virol. 4:111-116. See also WO 99/43819, herein incorporated byreference.

Of interest are promoters that are expressed locally at or near the siteof pathogen infection. See, for example, Marineau et al. (1987) PlantMol. Biol. 9:335-342; Matton et al. (1989) Molecular Plant-MicrobeInteractions 2:325-331; Somsisch et al. (1986) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.USA 83:2427-2430; Somsisch et al. (1988) Mol. Gen. Genet. 2:93-98; andYang (1996) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 93:14972-14977. See also, Chen etal. (1996) Plant J. 10:955-966; Zhang et al. (1994) Proc. Natl. Acad.Sci. USA 91:2507-2511; Warner et al. (1993) Plant J. 3:191-201; Siebertzet al. (1989) Plant Cell 1:961-968; U.S. Pat. No. 5,750,386(nematode-inducible); and the references cited therein. Of particularinterest is the inducible promoter for the maize PRms gene, whoseexpression is induced by the pathogen Fusarium moniliforme (see, forexample, Cordero et al. (1992) Physiol. Mol. Plant. Path. 41:189-200).

Additionally, as pathogens find entry into plants through wounds orinsect damage, a wound-inducible promoter may be used in theconstructions of the invention. Such wound-inducible promoters includepotato proteinase inhibitor (pin II) gene (Ryan (1990) Ann. Rev.Phytopath. 28:425-449; Duan et al. (1996) Nature Biotechnology14:494-498); wun1 and wun2, U.S. Pat. No. 5,428,148; win1 and win2(Stanford et al. (1989) Mol. Gen. Genet. 215:200-208); systemin (McGurlet al. (1992) Science 225:1570-1573); WIP1 (Rohmeier et al. (1993) PlantMol. Biol. 22:783-792; Eckelkamp et al. (1993) FEBS Letters 323:73-76);MPI gene (Corderok et al. (1994) Plant J. 6(2):141-150); and the like,herein incorporated by reference.

Chemical-regulated promoters can be used to modulate the expression of agene in a plant through the application of an exogenous chemicalregulator. Depending upon the objective, the promoter may be achemical-inducible promoter, where application of the chemical inducesgene expression, or a chemical-repressible promoter, where applicationof the chemical represses gene expression. Chemical-inducible promotersare known in the art and include, but are not limited to, the maizeIn2-2 promoter, which is activated by benzenesulfonamide herbicidesafeners, the maize GST promoter, which is activated by hydrophobicelectrophilic compounds that are used as pre-emergent herbicides, andthe tobacco PR-1a promoter, which is activated by salicylic acid. Otherchemical-regulated promoters of interest include steroid-responsivepromoters (see, for example, the glucocorticoid-inducible promoter inSchena et al. (1991) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88:10421-10425 andMcNellis et al. (1998) Plant J. 14(2):247-257) andtetracycline-inducible and tetracycline-repressible promoters (see, forexample, Gatz et al. (1991) Mol. Gen. Genet. 227:229-237, and U.S. Pat.Nos. 5,814,618 and 5,789,156), herein incorporated by reference.

The expression cassette can also comprise a selectable marker gene forthe selection of transformed cells. Selectable marker genes are utilizedfor the selection of transformed cells or tissues. Marker genes includegenes encoding antibiotic resistance, such as those encoding neomycinphosphotransferase II (NEO) and hygromycin phosphotransferase (HPT), aswell as genes conferring resistance to herbicidal compounds, such asglufosinate ammonium, bromoxynil, imidazolinones, and2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetate (2,4-D). Additional selectable markersinclude phenotypic markers such as β-galactosidase and fluorescentproteins such as green fluorescent protein (GFP) (Su et al. (2004)Biotechnol Bioeng 85:610-9 and Fetter et al. (2004) Plant Cell16:215-28), cyan florescent protein (CYP) (Bolte et al. (2004) J. CellScience 117:943-54 and Kato et al. (2002) Plant Physiol 129:913-42), andyellow florescent protein (PhiYFP™ from Evrogen, see, Bolte et al.(2004) J. Cell Science 117:943-54). For additional selectable markers,see generally, Yarranton (1992) Curr. Opin. Biotech. 3:506-511;Christopherson et al. (1992) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89:6314-6318;Yao et al. (1992) Cell 71:63-72; Reznikoff (1992) Mol. Microbiol.6:2419-2422; Barkley et al. (1980) in The Operon, pp. 177-220; Hu et al.(1987) Cell 48:555-566; Brown et al. (1987) Cell 49:603-612; Figge etal. (1988) Cell 52:713-722; Deuschle et al. (1989) Proc. Natl. Acad.Aci. USA 86:5400-5404; Fuerst et al. (1989) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA86:2549-2553; Deuschle et al. (1990) Science 248:480-483; Gossen (1993)Ph.D. Thesis, University of Heidelberg; Reines et al. (1993) Proc. Natl.Acad. Sci. USA 90:1917-1921; Labow et al. (1990) Mol. Cell. Biol.10:3343-3356; Zambretti et al. (1992) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA89:3952-3956; Baim et al. (1991) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA88:5072-5076; Wyborski et al. (1991) Nucleic Acids Res. 19:4647-4653;Hillenand-Wissman (1989) Topics Mol. Struc. Biol. 10:143-162; Degenkolbet al. (1991) Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 35:1591-1595; Kleinschnidtet al. (1988) Biochemistry 27:1094-1104; Bonin (1993) Ph.D. Thesis,University of Heidelberg; Gossen et al. (1992) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.USA 89:5547-5551; Oliva et al. (1992) Antimicrob. Agents Chemother.36:913-919; Hlavka et al. (1985) Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology,Vol. 78 (Springer-Verlag, Berlin); Gill et al. (1988) Nature334:721-724. Such disclosures are herein incorporated by reference.

The above list of selectable marker genes is not meant to be limiting.Any selectable marker gene can be used in the present invention.

Numerous plant transformation vectors and methods for transformingplants are available. See, for example, An, G. et al. (1986) PlantPysiol., 81:301-305; Fry, J., et al. (1987) Plant Cell Rep. 6:321-325;Block, M. (1988) Theor. Appl Genet. 76:767-774; Hinchee, et al. (1990)Stadler. Genet. Symp. 203212.203-212; Cousins, et al. (1991) Aust. J.Plant Physiol. 18:481-494; Chee, P. P. and Slightom, J. L. (1992) Gene.118:255-260; Christou, et al. (1992) Trends. Biotechnol. 10:239-246;D'Halluin, et al. (1992) Bio/Technol. 10:309-314; Dhir, et al. (1992)Plant Physiol. 99:81-88; Casas et al. (1993) Proc. Nat. Acad Sci. USA90:11212-11216; Christou, P. (1993) In Vitro Cell. Dev. Biol.-Plant;29P:119-124; Davies, et al. (1993) Plant Cell Rep. 12:180-183; Dong, J.A. and Mchughen, A. (1993) Plant Sci. 91:139-148; Franklin, C. I. andTrieu, T. N. (1993) Plant. Physiol. 102:167; Golovkin, et al. (1993)Plant Sci. 90:41-52; Guo Chin Sci. Bull. 38:2072-2078; Asano, et al.(1994) Plant Cell Rep. 13; Ayeres N. M. and Park, W. D. (1994) Crit.Rev. Plant. Sci. 13:219-239; Barcelo, et al. (1994) Plant. J. 5:583-592;Becker, et al. (1994) Plant. J. 5:299-307; Borkowska et al. (1994) Acta.Physiol Plant. 16:225-230; Christou, P. (1994) Agro. Food. Ind. Hi Tech.5: 17-27; Eapen et al. (1994) Plant Cell Rep. 13:582-586; Hartman, etal. (1994) Bio-Technology 12: 919923; Ritala, et al. (1994) Plant. Mol.Biol. 24:317-325; Wan, Y. C. and Lemaux, P. G. (1994) Plant Physiol.104:3748; U.S. Pat. No. 5,792,935 U.S. Pat. No. 6,133,035; May et al.(1995) Biotechnology 13:486-492; Dhed'a, et al. (1991) Fruits46:125-135); Sagi, et al. (1995) Biotechnology 13:481-485; Marroquin etal. (1993) In Vivo Cell. Div. Biol. 29P:43-46; Ma (1991) “SomaticEmbryogenesis and Plant Regeneration from Cell Suspension Culture ofBanana”, in Proceedings of Symposium on Tissue Culture of HoriculturalCrops, Mar. 8-9, 1988, Department of Horticulture, National TaiwanUniversity, Taipei, Taiwan, pp. 181-188.

The methods of the invention involve introducing a polynucleotideconstruct into a plant. By “introducing” is intended presenting to theplant the polynucleotide construct in such a manner that the constructgains access to the interior of a cell of the plant. The methods of theinvention do not depend on a particular method for introducing apolynucleotide construct to a plant, only that the polynucleotideconstruct gains access to the interior of at least one cell of theplant. Methods for introducing polynucleotide constructs into plants areknown in the art including, but not limited to, stable transformationmethods, transient transformation methods, and virus-mediated methods.

By “stable transformation” is intended that the polynucleotide constructintroduced into a plant integrates into the genome of the plant and iscapable of being inherited by progeny thereof. By “transienttransformation” is intended that a polynucleotide construct introducedinto a plant does not integrate into the genome of the plant.

Methodologies for constructing plant expression cassettes andintroducing foreign nucleic acids into plants are generally known in theart and have been previously described. For example, foreign DNA can beintroduced into plants, using tumor-inducing (Ti) plasmid vectors. Othermethods utilized for foreign DNA delivery involve the use of PEGmediated protoplast transformation, electroporation, microinjectionwhiskers, and biolistics or microprojectile bombardment for direct DNAuptake. Such methods are known in the art. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,405,765 toVasil et al.; Bilang et al. (1991) Gene 100: 247-250; Scheid et al.,(1991) Mol. Gen. Genet., 228: 104-112; Guerche et al., (1987) PlantScience 52: 111-116; Neuhause et al., (1987) Theor. Appl Genet. 75:30-36; Klein et al., (1987) Nature 327: 70-73; Howell et al., (1980)Science 208:1265; Horsch et al., (1985) Science 227: 1229-1231; DeBlocket al., (1989) Plant Physiology 91: 694-701; Methods for Plant MolecularBiology (Weissbach and Weissbach, eds.) Academic Press, Inc. (1988) andMethods in Plant Molecular Biology (Schuler and Zielinski, eds.)Academic Press, Inc. (1989). The method of transformation depends uponthe plant cell to be transformed, stability of vectors used, expressionlevel of gene products and other parameters.

Other suitable methods of introducing nucleotide sequences into plantcells and subsequent insertion into the plant genome includemicroinjection as Crossway et al. (1986) Biotechniques 4:320-334,electroporation as described by Riggs et al. (1986) Proc. Natl. Acad.Sci. USA 83:5602-5606, Agrobacterium-mediated transformation asdescribed by Townsend et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,563,055, Zhao et al., U.S.Pat. No. 5,981,840, direct gene transfer as described by Paszkowski etal. (1984) EMBO J. 3:2717-2722, and ballistic particle acceleration asdescribed in, for example, Sanford et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,050;Tomes et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,879,918; Tomes et al., U.S. Pat. No.5,886,244; Bidney et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,932,782; Tomes et al. (1995)“Direct DNA Transfer into Intact Plant Cells via MicroprojectileBombardment,” in Plant Cell, Tissue, and Organ Culture: FundamentalMethods, ed. Gamborg and Phillips (Springer-Verlag, Berlin); McCabe etal. (1988) Biotechnology 6:923-926); and Lec1 transformation (WO00/28058). Also see, Weissinger et al. (1988) Ann. Rev. Genet.22:421-477; Sanford et al. (1987) Particulate Science and Technology5:27-37 (onion); Christou et al. (1988) Plant Physiol. 87:671-674(soybean); McCabe et al. (1988) Bio/Technology 6:923-926 (soybean);Finer and McMullen (1991) In Vitro Cell Dev. Biol. 27P:175-182(soybean); Singh et al. (1998) Theor. Appl. Genet. 96:319-324 (soybean);Datta et al. (1990) Biotechnology 8:736-740 (rice); Klein et al. (1988)Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85:4305-4309 (maize); Klein et al. (1988)Biotechnology 6:559-563 (maize); Tomes, U.S. Pat. No. 5,240,855; Buisinget al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,322,783 and 5,324,646; Tomes et al. (1995)“Direct DNA Transfer into Intact Plant Cells via MicroprojectileBombardment,” in Plant Cell, Tissue, and Organ Culture: FundamentalMethods, ed. Gamborg (Springer-Verlag, Berlin) (maize); Klein et al.(1988) Plant Physiol. 91:440-444 (maize); Fromm et al. (1990)Biotechnology 8:833-839 (maize); Hooykaas-Van Slogteren et al. (1984)Nature (London) 311:763-764; Bowen et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,736,369(cereals); Bytebier et al. (1987) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA84:5345-5349 (Liliaceae); De Wet et al. (1985) in The ExperimentalManipulation of Ovule Tissues, ed. Chapman et al. (Longman, N.Y.), pp.197-209 (pollen); Kaeppler et al. (1990) Plant Cell Reports 9:415-418and Kaeppler et al. (1992) Theor. Appl. Genet. 84:560-566(whisker-mediated transformation); D'Halluin et al. (1992) Plant Cell4:1495-1505 (electroporation); Li et al. (1993) Plant Cell Reports12:250-255 and Christou and Ford (1995) Annals of Botany 75:407-413(rice); Osjoda et al. (1996) Nature Biotechnology 14:745-750 (maize viaAgrobacterium tumefaciens); all of which are herein incorporated byreference.

The polynucleotides of the invention may be introduced into plants bycontacting plants with a virus or viral nucleic acids. Generally, suchmethods involve incorporating a polynucleotide construct of theinvention within a viral DNA or RNA molecule. It is recognized that thea EFR protein of the invention may be initially synthesized as part of aviral polyprotein, which later may be processed by proteolysis in vivoor in vitro to produce the desired recombinant protein. Further, it isrecognized that promoters of the invention also encompass promotersutilized for transcription by viral RNA polymerases. Methods forintroducing polynucleotide constructs into plants and expressing aprotein encoded therein, involving viral DNA or RNA molecules, are knownin the art. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,889,191, 5,889,190,5,866,785, 5,589,367 and 5,316,931; herein incorporated by reference.

The cells that have been transformed may be grown into plants inaccordance with conventional ways. See, for example, McCormick et al.(1986) Plant Cell Reports 5:81-84. These plants may then be grown, andeither pollinated with the same transformed strain or different strains,and the resulting hybrid having constitutive expression of the desiredphenotypic characteristic identified. Two or more generations may begrown to ensure that expression of the desired phenotypic characteristicis stably maintained and inherited and then seeds harvested to ensureexpression of the desired phenotypic characteristic has been achieved.In this manner, the present invention provides transformed seed (alsoreferred to as “transgenic seed”) having a polynucleotide construct ofthe invention, for example, an expression cassette of the invention,stably incorporated into their genome.

The present invention may be used for transformation of any plantspecies, including, but not limited to, monocots and dicots. Examples ofplant species of interest include, but are not limited to, peppers(Capsicum spp; e.g., Capsicum annuum, C. baccatum, C. chinense, C.frutescens, C. pubescens, and the like), tomatoes (Lycopersiconesculentum), tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), eggplant (Solanum melongena),tomatillo (Physalis philadelphica), petunia (Petunia spp., e.g., Petuniax hybrida or Petunia hybrida), corn or maize (Zea mays), Brassica sp.(e.g., B. napus, B. rapa, B. juncea), particularly those Brassicaspecies useful as sources of seed oil, alfalfa (Medicago sativa), rice(Oryza sativa), rye (Secale cereale), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor, Sorghumvulgare), millet (e.g., pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), proso millet(Panicum miliaceum), foxtail millet (Setaria italica), finger millet(Eleusine coracana)), sunflower (Helianthus annuus), safflower(Carthamus tinctorius), wheat (Triticum aestivum), soybean (Glycinemax), tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), potato (Solanum tuberosum), peanuts(Arachis hypogaea), cotton (Gossypium barbadense, Gossypium hirsutum),sweet potato (Ipomoea batatus), cassaya (Manihot esculenta), coffee(Coffea spp.), coconut (Cocos nucifera), pineapple (Ananas comosus),citrus trees (Citrus spp.), cocoa (Theobroma cacao), tea (Camelliasinensis), banana (Musa spp.), avocado (Persea americana), fig (Ficuscasica), guava (Psidium guajava), mango (Mangifera indica), olive (Oleaeuropaea), papaya (Carica papaya), cashew (Anacardium occidentale),macadamia (Macadamia integrifolia), almond (Prunus amygdalus), sugarbeets (Beta vulgaris), sugarcane (Saccharum spp.), oats, barley,vegetables, ornamentals, and conifers.

In a preferred embodiment, the plants of the present invention aremembers of the Solanaceae family which is commonly known as theNightshade family. Plants that are members of the Solanaceae family arealso referred to herein as Solanaceous plants. Solanaceous plants of thepresent invention include, but not limited to, tomato, potato, pepper,tobacco, eggplant, tomatillo, and petunia.

As used herein, the term plant includes plant cells, plant protoplasts,plant cell tissue cultures from which plants can be regenerated, plantcalli, plant clumps, and plant cells that are intact in plants or partsof plants such as embryos, pollen, ovules, seeds, leaves, flowers,branches, fruits, roots, root tips, anthers, and the like. Progeny,variants, and mutants of the regenerated plants are also included withinthe scope of the invention, provided that these parts comprise theintroduced polynucleotides.

The invention is drawn to compositions and methods for enhancing theresistance of a plant to plant disease caused by a bacterial pathogen.By “disease resistance” is intended that the plants avoid the diseasesymptoms that are the outcome of plant-pathogen interactions. That is,pathogens are prevented from causing plant diseases and the associateddisease symptoms, or alternatively, the disease symptoms caused by thepathogen is minimized or lessened.

Pathogens of the invention are bacteria, insects, nematodes, fungi, andthe like. The preferred pathogens of the present invention are bacterialpathogens. Specific pathogens for the major crops include: Soybeans:Phytophthora megasperma fsp. glycinea, Macrophomina phaseolina,Rhizoctonia solani, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Fusarium oxysporum,Diaporthe phaseolorum var. sojae (Phomopsis sojae), Diaporthephaseolorum var. caulivora, Sclerotium rolfsii, Cercospora kikuchii,Cercospora sojina, Peronospora manshurica, Colletotrichum dematium(Colletotichum truncatum), Corynespora cassiicola, Septoria glycines,Phyllosticta sojicola, Alternaria alternata, Pseudomonas syringae p.v.glycinea, Xanthomonas campestris p.v. phaseoli, Microsphaera diffusa,Fusarium semitectum, Phialophora gregata, Soybean mosaic virus,Glomerella glycines, Tobacco Ring spot virus, Tobacco Streak virus,Phakopsora pachyrhizi, Pythium aphanidermatum, Pythium ultimum, Pythiumdebaryanum, Tomato spotted wilt virus, Heterodera glycines Fusariumsolani; Canola: Albugo candida, Alternaria brassicae, Leptosphaeriamaculans, Rhizoctonia solani, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Mycosphaerellabrassicicola, Pythium ultimum, Peronospora parasitica, Fusarium roseum,Alternaria alternata; Alfalfa: Clavibacter michiganese subsp.insidiosum, Pythium ultimum, Pythium irregulare, Pythium splendens,Pythium debaryanum, Pythium aphanidermatum, Phytophthora megasperma,Peronospora trifoliorum, Phoma medicaginis var. medicaginis, Cercosporamedicaginis, Pseudopeziza medicaginis, Leptotrochila medicaginis,Fusarium oxysporum, Verticillium albo-atrum, Xanthomonas campestris p.v.alfalfae, Aphanomyces euteiches, Stemphylium herbarum, Stemphyliumalfalfae, Colletotrichum trifolii, Leptosphaerulina briosiana, Uromycesstriatus, Sclerotinia trifoliorum, Stagonospora meliloti, Stemphyliumbotryosum, Leptotrichila medicaginis; Wheat: Pseudomonas syringae p.v.atrofaciens, Urocystis agropyri, Xanthomonas campestris p.v.translucens, Pseudomonas syringae p.v. syringae, Alternaria alternata,Cladosporium herbarum, Fusarium graminearum, Fusarium avenaceum,Fusarium culmorum, Ustilago tritici, Ascochyta tritici, Cephalosporiumgramineum, Collotetrichum graminicola, Erysiphe graminis f.sp. tritici,Puccinia graminis f.sp. tritici, Puccinia recondite f.sp. tritici,Puccinia striiformis, Pyrenophora tritici-repentis, Septoria nodorum,Septoria tritici, Septoria avenae, Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides,Rhizoctonia solani, Rhizoctonia cerealis, Gaeumannomyces graminis var.tritici, Pythium aphanidermatum, Pythium arrhenomanes, Pythium ultimum,Bipolaris sorokiniana, Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus, Brome Mosaic Virus,Soil Borne Wheat Mosaic Virus, Wheat Streak Mosaic Virus, Wheat SpindleStreak Virus, American Wheat Striate Virus, Claviceps purpurea, Tilletiatritici, Tilletia laevis, Ustilago tritici, Tilletia indica, Rhizoctoniasolani, Pythium arrhenomannes, Pythium gramicola, Pythiumaphanidermatum, High Plains Virus, European wheat striate virus;Sunflower: Plasmopora halstedii, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, AsterYellows, Septoria helianthi, Phomopsis helianthi, Alternaria helianthi,Alternaria zinniae, Botrytis cinerea, Phoma macdonaldii, Macrophominaphaseolina, Erysiphe cichoracearum, Rhizopus oryzae, Rhizopus arrhizus,Rhizopus stolonifer, Puccinia helianthi, Verticillium dahliae, Erwiniacarotovorum pv. carotovora, Cephalosporium acremonium, Phytophthoracryptogea, Albugo tragopogonis; Corn: Colletotrichum graminicola,Fusarium moniliforme var. subglutinans, Erwinia stewartii, F.verticillioides, Gibberella zeae (Fusarium graminearum), Stenocarpellamaydi (Diplodia maydis), Pythium irregulare, Pythium debaryanum, Pythiumgraminicola, Pythium splendens, Pythium ultimum, Pythium aphanidermatum,Aspergillus flavus, Bipolaris maydis O, T (Cochliobolus heterostrophus),Helminthosporium carbonum I, II & III (Cochliobolus carbonum),Exserohilum turcicum I, II & III, Helminthosporium pedicellatum,Physoderma maydis, Phyllosticta maydis, Kabatiella maydis, Cercosporasorghi, Ustilago maydis, Puccinia sorghi, Puccinia polysora,Macrophomina phaseolina, Penicillium oxalicum, Nigrospora oryzae,Cladosporium herbarum, Curvularia lunata, Curvularia inaequalis,Curvularia pallescens, Clavibacter michiganense subsp. nebraskense,Trichoderma viride, Maize Dwarf Mosaic Virus A & B, Wheat Streak MosaicVirus, Maize Chlorotic Dwarf Virus, Claviceps sorghi, Pseudonomasavenae, Erwinia chrysanthemi pv. zea, Erwinia carotovora, Corn stuntspiroplasma, Diplodia macrospora, Sclerophthora macrospora,Peronosclerospora sorghi, Peronosclerospora philippinensis,Peronosclerospora maydis, Peronosclerospora sacchari, Sphacelothecareiliana, Physopella zeae, Cephalosporium maydis, Cephalosporiumacremonium, Maize Chlorotic Mottle Virus, High Plains Virus, MaizeMosaic Virus, Maize Rayado Fino Virus, Maize Streak Virus, Maize StripeVirus, Maize Rough Dwarf Virus; Sorghum: Exserohilum turcicum, C.sublineolum, Cercospora sorghi, Gloeocercospora sorghi, Ascochytasorghina, Pseudomonas syringae p.v. syringae, Xanthomonas campestrisp.v. holcicola, Pseudomonas andropogonis, Puccinia purpurea,Macrophomina phaseolina, Perconia circinate, Fusarium moniliforme,Alternaria alternate, Bipolaris sorghicola, Helminthosporium sorghicola,Curvularia lunata, Phoma insidiosa, Pseudomonas avenae (Pseudomonasalboprecipitans), Ramulispora sorghi, Ramulispora sorghicola,Phyllachara sacchari, Sporisorium reilianum (Sphacelotheca reiliana),Sphacelotheca cruenta, Sporisorium sorghi, Sugarcane mosaic H, MaizeDwarf Mosaic Virus A & B, Claviceps sorghi, Rhizoctonia solani,Acremonium strictum, Sclerophthona macrospora, Peronosclerospora sorghi,Peronosclerospora philippinensis, Sclerospora graminicola, Fusariumgraminearum, Fusarium oxysporum, Pythium arrhenomanes, Pythiumgraminicola, etc.; Tomato: Corynebacterium michiganense pv.michiganense, Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato, Ralstonia solanacearum,Xanthomonas vesicatoria, Xanthomonas perforans, Alternaria solani,Alternaria porri, Collectotrichum spp., Fulvia fulva Syn. Cladosporiumfulvum, Fusarium oxysporum f. lycopersici, Leveillula taurica/Oidiopsistaurica, Phytophthora infestans, other Phytophthora spp.,Pseudocercospora fuligena Syn. Cercospora fuligena, Sclerotium rolfsii,Septoria lycopersici, Meloidogyne spp.; Potato: Ralstonia solanacearum,Pseudomonas solanacearum, Erwinia carotovora subsp. Atroseptica Erwiniacarotovora subsp. Carotovora, Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp.Atrosepticum, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Clavibacter michiganensis subsp.Sepedonicus, Corynebacterium sepedonicum, Streptomyces scabiei,Colletotrichum coccodes, Alternaria alternate, Mycovellosiella concors,Cercospora solani, Macrophomina phaseolina, Sclerotium bataticola,Choanephora cucurbitarum, Puccinia pittieriana, Aecidium cantensis,Alternaria solani, Fusarium spp., Phoma solanicola f. foveata, Botrytiscinerea, Botryotinia fuceliana, Phytophthora infestans, Pythium spp.,Phoma andigena var. andina, Pleospora herbarum, Stemphylium herbarum,Erysiphe cichoracearum, Spongospora subterranean Rhizoctonia solani,Thanatephorus cucumeris, Rosellinia sp. Dematophora sp., Septorialycopersici, Helminthosporium solani, Polyscytalum pustulans, Sclerotiumrolfsii, Athelia Angiosorus solani, Ulocladium atrum, Verticilliumalbo-atrum, V. dahlia, Synchytrium endobioticum, Sclerotiniasclerotiorum; Banana: Colletotrichum musae, Armillaria mellea,Armillaria tabescens, Pseudomonas solanacearum, Phyllachora musicola,Mycosphaerella fijiensis, Rosellinia bunodes, Pseudomas spp.,Pestalotiopsis leprogena, Cercospora hayi, Pseudomonas solanacearum,Ceratocystis paradoxa, Verticillium theobromae, Trachysphaerafructigena, Cladosporium musae, Junghuhnia vincta, Cordana johnstonii,Cordana musae, Fusarium pallidoroseum, Colletotrichum musae,Verticillium theobromae, Fusarium spp Acremonium spp., Cylindrocladiumspp., Deightoniella torulosa, Nattrassia mangiferae, Dreschsleragigantean, Guignardia musae, Botryosphaeria ribis, Fusarium solani,Nectria haematococca, Fusarium oxysporum, Rhizoctonia spp.,Colletotrichum musae, Uredo musae, Uromyces musae, Acrodontium simplex,Curvularia eragrostidis, Drechslera musae-sapientum, Leptosphaeriamusarum, Pestalotiopsis disseminate, Ceratocystis paradoxa,Haplobasidion musae, Marasmiellus inoderma, Pseudomonas solanacearum,Radopholus similis, Lasiodiplodia theobromae, Fusarium pallidoroseum,Verticillium theobromae, Pestalotiopsis palmarum, Phaeoseptoria musae,Pyricularia grisea, Fusarium moniliforme, Gibberella fujikuroi, Erwiniacarotovora, Erwinia chrysanthemi, Cylindrocarpon musae, Meloidogynearenaria, Meloidogyne incognita, Meloidogyne javanica, Pratylenchuscoffeae, Pratylenchus goodeyi, Pratylenchus brachyurus, Pratylenchusreniformia, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Nectria foliicola, Mycosphaerellamusicola, Pseudocercospora musae, Limacinula tenuis, Mycosphaerellamusae, Helicotylenchus multicinctus, Helicotylenchus dihystera,Nigrospora sphaerica, Trachysphaera frutigena, Ramichloridium musae,Verticillium theobromae.

Various changes in phenotype are of interest including modifying thefatty acid composition in a plant, altering the amino acid content of aplant, altering a plant's pathogen defense mechanism, and the like.These results can be achieved by providing expression of heterologousproducts or increased expression of endogenous products in plants.

Genes of interest are reflective of the commercial markets and interestsof those involved in the development of the crop. Crops and markets ofinterest change, and as developing nations open up world markets, newcrops and technologies will emerge also. In addition, as ourunderstanding of agronomic traits and characteristics such as yield andheterosis increase, the choice of genes for transformation will changeaccordingly. General categories of genes of interest include, forexample, those genes involved in information, such as zinc fingers,those involved in communication, such as kinases, and those involved inhousekeeping, such as heat shock proteins. More specific categories oftransgenes, for example, include genes encoding important traits foragronomics, insect resistance, disease resistance, herbicide resistance,sterility, grain characteristics, and commercial products. Genes ofinterest include, generally, those involved in oil, starch,carbohydrate, or nutrient metabolism as well as those. In addition,genes of interest include genes encoding enzymes and other proteins fromplants and other sources including prokaryotes and other eukaryotes.

Example 1 Characterization of Transgenic Nicotiana benthamiana (Nb)Stably Expressing AtEFR

Although plant defense responses are not altogether understood at amolecular level, they can be used to assay for the ability of a plant toanticipate a microbial attack. In this project, four well-known PTIresponses were used to assay for the ability of heterologously expressedAtEFR to confer responsiveness to the EF-Tu epitope elf18. Thewell-characterized flg22 epitope of flagellin is used as a positivecontrol and water or assay mix is used as a negative control. The use ofthe epitopes elf18 and flg22 instead of the whole elicitor or pathogenensures each treatment is one specific elicitor, not several actingtogether.

Materials and Methods

All experiments used homozygous T4 Nb lines (subsequently referred to asEFR) expressing AtEFRp::EFR as well as wild-type Nb as a negativecontrol. In most cases, treatments used 100 nM elf18 or flg22 diluted inwater, MS-10, or the relevant assay mix and were repeated a minimum ofthree times.

AtEFRp::EFR was constructed as described in Zipfel et al. (2006) Cell125:749-760, which is herein incorporated by reference. A 4.1 kbfragment including EFR (At5g20480) and 1080 by of upstream sequence wasamplified from Col-0 genomic DNA using the Expand High Fidelity System(Roche) and placed upstream to a GFP coding sequence in a pGEM-T Easyplasmid (Promega). After digestion with NotI, a EFRp::EFRfragment wascloned into the binary vector pGREENII/T-0229 (Hellens et al. (2000)Plant Mol. Biol. 42:819-832).

Inhibition of Seedling Growth: Fresh Weight Measurement

Wild-type, #16 and #18 Nb as well as Col and efr Arabidopsis thalianaseedlings were grown for one week on MS1% sucrose agar plates, thentransferred to liquid culture and were grown for one week in a serialdilution or elf18 or flg22. Dilutions of 0.1, 1, 10, 100 and 1000 nMwere used for all five plant lines. Seedlings (n=4) were blotted onabsorbent paper and their fresh weight was measured.

Oxidative Burst: Luminol-Based Assay

To measure the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in leaftissue, size #1 leaf discs (Nb; n=12, tomato; n=8) were floatedovernight in water. Each disc was then transferred to a well containingan assay mix of luminol (200 μM) and peroxidase (20 μg/ml) in 100 μlwater.

Each well was then treated with either: assay mix, 100 nm elf18, or 100nm flg22. Luminescence in a 96-well plate was subsequently measuredusing a Flash Varioskan luminometer.

Early and Late Marker Gene Expression: Analysis by RT-PCR

Wild-type and #18 Nb were grown for one week on agar plates, thentransferred to liquid culture and were grown for a further week. Theexpression of PAMP-induced genes was monitored over a time course.Seedlings were treated with 100 nM elf18 or flg22 for 0, 30, 60 or 180minutes, and frozen in liquid nitrogen.

In brief: four elicited seedlings were thoroughly ground directly in thesupplied extraction buffer in Eppendorf tubes using a pestle on an IKARW 20 stirrer. Total RNAs were extracted using the Qiagen Rneasy PlantMini kit. The quality of the extracted RNA was confirmed byrunning anethidium bromide-stained agarose gel to reveal rRNAs. DNase treatmentwas performed using TURBO DNA-free kit (Ambion) and the concentration oftotal RNA was then measured using a Nanodrop. First strand cDNAsynthesis was performed using SuperScript II Reverse Transcriptase(Invitrogen) in combination with Oligo(dT) prime on 2 μg of total RNA.One μl of cDNA was used in PCR under the following conditions: 95° C. 2min; [95° C. 45 sec; 58° C. 45 sec; 55° C. 30 sec; 72° C. 1.5 min]×25;72° C. 5 min. The genes used as defense markers were: CYP72D2(cytochrome P450), FLS2 (receptor kinase for flg22), ACRE132 (putativeRING finger protein) and WRKY22 (transcription factor). As loadingcontrol the constitutively expressed EF-1α housekeeping gene was alsoamplified.

Callose Deposition: Aniline Blue Staining for Fluorescent Microscopy

A solution of either water, 100 nM elf18, or 100 nM flg22 was used toinfiltrate leaves of 4-week old wild-type and EFR Nb. Size #3 leaf discs(n=8) were sampled after ±16 hours and destained in methanol overnight.Discs were rinsed in water, then left to stain overnight in a solutionof 0.05% aniline blue in 50 mM phosphate buffer pH 8.5. Callosedeposition at the plant cell periphery could then be viewed under afluorescence microscope.

Infection Assays: Disease Scoring and Growth Curves Following BacterialInfections

Five different bacterial strains were used to inoculate ˜4-week old Nbplants: P. syringae pv. syringae B728a, P. syringae pv. tabaci 6665, P.syringae pv. tabaci 11528, Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris 8004and P. syringae pv. tomato DC3000. Inoculation was performed eitherthrough spraying 1×108 cfu/ml bacteria with 0.06% Silwett L77 over thewhole plant (n=2) or through infiltrating 1×105 cfu/ml bacteria intoleaves (n=2). Two #1 leaf discs (n=4) were taken over a time course ofseveral days then ground in water using a pestle in IKA RW 20 stirrer.The product was serially diluted, then plated onto TSA plates which wereincubated for 24 hours at 28° C. then 12 hours at room temperature toproduce visible colonies for counting.

Transient Expression After Agro-Infiltration: Qualitative GUS Assay

A. tumefaciens GV3101 carrying pBIN19-35S::GUS-HA was grown overnight inL media with 50 μg/ml Rifampicin and 50 μg/ml Kanamycin. This culturewas diluted in 1/10 volume and grown for a further five hours. The cellswere spun down and resuspended in water to OD600=0.4. This culture wasused to infiltrate patches of Nb leaf. After two days, #8 leaf discs(n=16) were vacuum infiltrated with GUS staining solution and incubatedovernight at 37° C. The solution was then replaced with methanol todestain the discs to reveal areas of GUS expression.

Gall Formation After Agro-Inoculation: Disease Scoring

A. tumefaciens A281 was plated onto L media with 10 μg/ml Rifampicin andincubated at 28° C. for 2 days. This plate was used to stab inoculatestems from 5 different Nb plants at 3 leaf joints (n=15). The plantswere grown for three weeks, and then the resultant crown-galls wereexcised and weighed.

Transcription of Defense Genes in Native Plants: Analysis by RT-PCR

Wild-type and #18 Nb seedlings were grown for two weeks on sterile agarplates, then transferred to grow for a further four weeks in non-sterilesoil. The level of expression of the two Nb PR-1 genes was assayed eachweek for six weeks. For the first two weeks, approximately 10-20seedlings were sampled. After transfer to soil, a #6 punch was used totake leaf disc samples (n=4). The same RT-PCR protocol was used, theonly differences being that the RNA was eluted in just 30 μl Rnase-freewater, then just 0.5 μg RNA was used to make the first strand of cDNA,so to compensate the number of PCR cycles was extended to 32 in order toproduce an observable band.

Results Oxidative Burst

One early aspect of PTI is the rapid production of reactive oxygenspecies (ROS) to form an oxidative burst within minutes. These moleculeshave three parallel roles in defense: the ROS are toxic to the pathogen,help catalyse cell wall cross-linking by oxidation, and may also have arole in signalling (Nürnberger et al. (2004) Immunological Reviews198:249-266). FIG. 1 demonstrates that expression of AtEFR confers theability to perceive and respond to elf18. The plants transgenic forAtEFR exhibited a peak of luminescence corresponding to a burst of ROSreleased minutes after elf18 treatment. However similar experimentsnever revealed a burst of ROS in wild-type Nb after elf18 elicitation.The negative control proved this peak was not due to a wounding effectthat might have occurred due to pipetting of the assay solution (FIG.1).

Expression of Early and Late PAMP-Responsive Marker Genes

A number of genes are known to be induced at different timepoints duringthe transcriptional innate immune response. Early and late defense geneswhich are activated in response to PAMPs were used in this study. Forexample, WRKY22 binds W-box DNA elements present in several promoters,to activate transcription of defense-related genes (Asai et al. (2002)Nature 415:977-983). Therefore a time course was used to demonstrate thetemporal change in emphasis of induction. Clearly, elicitation withflg22 induces the expression of defense markers in both wild-type andEFR plants, whereas elf18 is unable to elicit a significant amount ofexpression in wild-type plants (FIG. 2). Crucially this trend differs inEFR plants where elf18 treatment results in marker gene expression whichis at least as strong as under flg22 treatment (FIG. 2).

Callose Deposition

A much later response is the deposition of callose at the plant cellwall, occurring a couple of hours after elicitation. These deposits arerevealed as bright blue specks on a dark blue background after anilineblue staining EFR plants displayed a comparatively a stronger responseto elf18 elicitation, relative to wild-type plants (data not shown).However, the positive control of flg22 elicitation did not work well forwild-type plants either (data not shown). In general these results arenot as distinctive as is commonly observed in Arabidopsis so alternativeassays for defense responses are preferable when working with Nb.

Seedling Growth Inhibition

Pathogen attacks occur throughout a plant's life. Therefore, even afreshly germinated seedling needs the ability to respond to attemptedcolonisation. This response is commonly observed as an inhibition ofseedling growth. This response has been well characterized inArabidopsis (Zipfel et al. (2006) Cell 125:749-760). Wild-type Colplants express EFR which detects the elf18 epitope, causing decreasinggrowth as elf18 concentration increases (FIG. 3B). By contrast, efrplants, which do not express functional EFR, grow normally because theyare insensitive to elf18 (FIG. 3B). The response to flg22 is unaffectedin efr (FIG. 3D). This same assay can be used to characterize Nbexpressing transgenic AtEFR. Wild-type Nb plants do not express EFR soare able to grow in the presence of up to 1000 nM elf18 (FIG. 3A). Thisshows that growth inhibition is not caused by a possible toxic effect ofthe peptide but really is an active response. Crucially, EFR plants areresponsive to the elf18 epitope (FIG. 3A). The sensitivity of seedlinggrowth inhibition is similar to that see in wild-type Col (FIG. 3B).This indicates the heterologously transferred AtEFR is able to interactwith equivalent downstream components present in Nb to produce thecorresponding response. Once again, the response to flg22 is unaffected(FIG. 3C) and has a similar sensitivity to that of wild-type Col (FIG.3D).

Enhanced Resistance of Transgenic Nb to Bacterial Disease

Clearly the data so far indicates that the expression of AtEFR in Nbconfers the ability to perceive the epitope elf18 and trigger severalresponses associated with general defense. It is now essential to testthe biological relevance of this information. The crucial test is toensure that this data correlates with the capability of the transgenicplant to perceive virulent bacteria and retard their growth, reducingthe appearance of symptoms. Preliminary results implied an increasedresistance to the virulent bacterium Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci(data not shown). Confirmation of this result was achieved throughdisease scoring and growth curves following bacterial infections.

A total of five bacterial strains from four different pathovars wereused in order to get an idea of the breadth of resistance conferred byexpression of AtEFR. Pseudomonas syringae is a Gram-negative species inthe class Gamma Proteobacteria. Three different pathovars were used ininfection assays. (i) Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae (Pss) mainlytargets species in the genera Syringa and Phaseolus, but the strainB728a is also highly virulent on Nb. (ii) Pseudomonas syringae pv.tabaci 6665 and 11528 (Pstab) are both strains responsible for wildfiredisease of tobacco. The bacteria produce a toxin, tabtoxin, which causesconspicuous chlorotic halos to develop around infection sites. (iii)Pseudomonas syringae pv. Tomato DC3000 (Pst) is the cause of bacterialspeck on tomato but is also able to infect Nb. In addition, Xanthomonascampestris pv. campestris (Xcc) is also a member of GammaProteobacteria. The strain 8004 is the causal agent of black rot in theBrassicaceae family but is also mildly virulent on Nb.

These bacteria were individually inoculated onto wild-type and EFRplants and sampled daily to form a timecourse of infection. Initiallythe Pstab 6665 strain was used, however although these bacteriasuccessfully colonised the wild-type plant, no symptoms were displayed(data not shown). In subsequent experiments Pstab 11528 was used and isable to both colonise and cause symptoms on wild-type plants. The Xcc8004 never reached a high colony count in wild-type Nb and neverproduced any symptoms, though this may be due to using an inadequatemethod of inoculation for this genus rather than a lack of virulence.

However a good comparison can be made between the three Pseudomonasspecies: Pss B728a, Pstab 11528 and Pst DC3000. Four days after sprayinoculation with Pss B728a, there are 100-times more bacteria onwild-type Nb compared to EFR plants (FIG. 4). Pss B728a growth afterinoculation by infiltration is also higher on wild-type plants (FIG. 4).Pstab 11528 inoculation displays an even more striking result. Thishighly virulent strain is 5000 times more abundant after spraying ontowild-type Nb rather than EFR plants (FIG. 4). Likewise Pst DC3000 growsnearly 100 times more successfully on wild-type Nb (FIG. 4). Bothmethods of inoculation show that over a period of several days, theexpression of AtEFR restricts the ability of the pathogen to colonisethe plant. Spray inoculation shows the clearest distinction with the EFRplants having a colony count up to 3.5 orders of magnitude lower thanwild-type plants. This data indicates the breadth of resistanceconferred by AtEFR expression. Transgenic Nb is less susceptible to arange of Pseudomonas species, so may be a way of introducingbroad-spectrum disease control.

This difference in bacterial number is reflected in observable symptomson leaves (FIG. 5A-B). The wild-type leaves are clearly very diseasedwith a number of necrotic spots and chlorotic patches, whereas the EFRleaves show fewer symptoms. The most virulent bacterium is Pss B728awhich demonstrates differential colonisation ability at the whole plantlevel (FIG. 5A). After inoculation, the wild-type plant quicklydisplayed small necrotic spots which developed to cause extensivewilting and necrosis as the disease advanced, producing a severe diseasephenotype. In comparison, the EFR plant is a normal height, with plentyof new growth and appears relatively healthy. Thus the expression ofAtEFR clearly enables a general defense response, leading to reducedsusceptibility to a range of bacteria.

Susceptibility to Agrobacterium tumefaciens

Previous work on Arabidopsis thaliana demonstrated that efr mutantplants were more amenable to Agrobacterium-mediated transient expressionthan wild-type plants (Zipfel et al. (2006) Cell 125:749-760). ThusAgrobacterium PAMPs, such as EF-Tu, triggers the activation of plantdefenses and restricts plant transformation. This is now furthersubstantiated by comparing the efficiency of Agrobacterium-mediatedtransient expression on wild-type and EFR Nb. FIG. 6A depicts marginallymore intensive GUS staining in wild-type discs compared to EFR.Furthermore, a test was conducted to determine whether EFR plants areless susceptible to the wild-type tumorigenic Agrobacterium tumefaciensstrain A281. FIG. 6B shows large crown galls formed on wildtype Nbstems, while gall formation was strongly reduced on EFR Nb stems. Whenweighed, the galls are nearly four times lighter on Nb stems expressingEFR compared to wild-type (FIG. 6C). Thus, while mutating EFR might be akey to improve the efficiency of Agrobacterium-mediated transformationin Brassicaceae, EFR transgenesis could be used to render plants moreresistant to grown-gall disease.

Non-Constitutive Expression of Defense Genes in Transgenic Nb

An essential control was to ensure that transgenic AtEFR expression doesnot lead to constitutive activation of defense genes. The expression ofthe marker transcript PR-1 was measured in plants first grown in sterileconditions, then transferred to soil. Virtually no expression of thebasic PR-1 gene was detected in EFR plants, even when grown innon-sterile conditions for over 4 weeks (data not shown). However, weakexpression of the acidic PR-1 gene was observed in EFR plants and in 5and 6 week-old wild-type plants (data not shown). Thus potential bioticstress caused by growth in non-sterile conditions does not result indrastic defense activation in EFR plants, compared to wild-type.

Discussion

These results provide a molecular and physiological characterization ofNicotiana benthamiana expressing AtEFR. The evidence indicates thatstable expression of the transgenic receptor confers the ability toperceive the epitope elf18, inducing a number of defense responsesassociated with PAMP-triggered immunity (PTI). Furthermore inpathogenicity tests, transgenic expression of AtEFR in Nb inhibitsbacterial invasion and colonisation, resulting in a lower bacterialcolony count and reduction in observable symptoms. This result wasdetected for a range of bacterial pathovars and transgenic EFR plantswere also more resistant to crown-gall disease, indicating theexpression of AtEFR confers broad-spectrum resistance. Clearly thisapproach can lead to plants with improved resistance to bacterialdisease.

The perception of PAMPs by plants is now recognised as an important partof plant defense. But although many PAMPs have been identified, few PRRsare known, leaving the opportunity for many more to be discovered.Arabidopsis encodes 610 receptor-like kinases (RLKs), over 50receptor-like proteins (RLPs) and around 150 nucleotide-binding siteplus leucine-rich repeats (NBS-LRRs). As FLS2 and EFR are both RLKs, itis likely that other RLKs will perceive PAMPs. Although 20% ofArabidopsis thaliana RLKs are putatively enzymatically inactive due to amutation in a conserved residue, they may still function in signallingthrough phosphorylation-independent mechanisms (Castells and Casacuberta(2007) Journal of experimental Botany 58:3503-3511). Despite the lack ofknown plant PRRs from the NBS-LRR family, several members are plant Rgenes, while in mammals several NBS-LRRs have been identified asintracellular PRRs. In time, the discovery of further PRRs in modelplants, may enable their heterologous expression to produce crops withgreater disease resistance.

Yet any increase in disease resistance is often only transient. Loss ofresistance is accelerated through growth in monocultures which exert astrong selection pressure on the pathogen. Consequently the pathogenevolves to avoid recognition by either accumulating mutations in therelevant gene or losing it completely. This lack of durability isparticularly common when heterologously expressing R genes detectingmicrobial elicitors which can be lost without affecting microbialvirulence. This led to a search for essential pathogenicity genes,resulting in the identification of the AvrBs2 gene which is crucial forthe fitness of Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria. Subsequently thecorresponding R gene, Bs2, was cloned from pepper and successfullytransferred to tomato where it conferred durable resistance (Tai et al.(1999) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96:14153-14158). In contrast to Rgenes, PAMPs are essential microbial molecules which are not easilymutated without conferring a selective disadvantage. Thus the transferof PRRs able to recognise PAMPs holds great promise for creatingsustainable resistance.

However, several potential problems remain. Effective innate immunityrequires the PRR to be active in all tissues which could be attacked,however there is little information on PRR expression patterns. Thesolution to this is either to find natural promoters which could beadapted for use or synthesise new ones (Gurr and Rushton (2005) TrendsBiotechnol. 14:283-290). Synthetic promoters could be designed to beinduced only in the presence of a pathogen, which would limit expressionof defense reactions to the infection site, ensuring efficientexpression. Another potential problem is that increased levels ofresistance could cause a decrease in yield. This is common whenemploying strategies such as ‘pyramiding’ of R genes, because theconstitutive expression of defense pathways occurs even in the absenceof a pathogen. This consumes resources which are needed for growth andso could actually lead to a reduction in plant fitness (Jones (2001)Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. 4: 281-287). As well as the use of pathogeninducible promoters, other strategies to avoid this include engineeringplants so that the balance of defense is shifted to combating oneparticular pathogen more successfully whilst avoiding the consequencesof increased susceptibility to other pathogens by changing otherparameters such as the growth conditions (Stuiver and Custers (2001)Nature 411:865-868). In all cases, a small decrease in yield is likelybut this should be compensated by the benefits of increased yieldstability (Walters and Boyle (2005) Physiol. and Mol. Plant P.66:40-44).

Example 2 Characterization of Transgenic Tomato Stably Expressing AtEFRCharacterization of Tomato and Potato Primary Transformants

In parallel to characterizing transgenic Nb, other members of theSolanaceae family, Solanum lycopersicum (tomato, var. Moneymaker) andSolanum tuberosum (potato, var. Desiree), were also used for apreliminary investigation. Fifteen primary transformants expressingAtEFRp::EFR and 21 expressing 35S::AtEFR for tomato, and 7 primarytransformants expressing AtEFRp::EFR and 11 expressing 355::AtEFR forpotato were tested to identify lines that gained EF-Tu responsivenessfor further physiological and molecular characterization.

Oxidative Burst: Luminol-Based Assay

To measure the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in leaftissue, size #1 leaf discs (Nb; n=12, tomato and potato; n=8) werefloated overnight in water. Each disc was then transferred to a wellcontaining an assay mix of luminol (200 μM) and peroxidase (20 μg/ml) in100 μl water. Each well was then treated with either: assay mix, 100 nmelf18, or 100 nm flg22. Luminescence in a 96-well plate was subsequentlymeasured using a Flash Varioskan luminometer.

The detection of an oxidative burst is a relatively simple and reliableassay for defense activation. Cumulative luminescence was recorded foreach plant over a time course of 40 minutes. Ten primary transformanttomato plants (numbers 1, 3, 10, 13, 14, 16, 20, 22, 33 and 36) wereidentified as positive lines because they displayed a considerable burstof ROS after elicitation with elf18 (data not shown). Several othertransformants were unable to express functional AtEFR as they give verylittle response to elf18, yet are able to respond to flg22 elicitation(data not shown). Other transformants, perhaps due to old age, wereunable to respond to elf18 or flg22 treatment (data not shown). The 10positive lines appear to have acquired EF-Tu responsiveness in thisassay. Therefore seeds were harvested to grow homozygous lines for usein further assays to confirm of these initial results.

Oxidative burst assays were also conducted with transgenic EFR potatoes(Desiree). Similar to the results with the tomato transformants,positive potato lines were identified that displayed a considerableburst of ROS after elicitation with elf18 (data not shown).

Infection Assays

Overnight bacterial liquid cultures were resuspended in water at anOD₆₀₀=0.2. After addition of Silwett-L77 0.04%, the bacterial solutionwas spray onto plants. Bacterial populations were measured at theindicated time-points by grinding leaf discs in water and plating serialdilutions onto plates to allow colony counting.

Example 3 Transformation of Banana with AtEFR

Embryogenic suspension cultures of banana are prepared as described(Cote et al. (1996) Physiol. Plant. 97:285-290). Embryogenic suspensioncells are co-cultivated with Agrobacterium cells containing a T-DNAvector containing a chimeric AtEFR gene under the control of the maizepolyubiquitin-1 promoter Becker et al. (2000) Plant Cell Rep.19:229-234), and a selectable marker gene consisting of the NPTII codingsequence under the control of the 35S promoter. Transformed calli areselected on medium containing kanamycin. Transformed calli (i.e.,kanamycin-resistant calli) are then regenerated into transformed bananaplants using standard methods. See, U.S. Pat. No. 5,792,935 U.S. Pat.No. 6,133,035; May et al. (1995) Biotechnology 13:486-492; Dhed'a, etal. (1991) Fruits 46:125-135); Sagi, et al. (1995) Biotechnology13:481-485; Marroquin et al. (1993) In Vivo Cell. Div. Biol. 29P:43-46;Ma (1991) “Somatic Embryogenesis and Plant Regeneration from CellSuspension Culture of Banana”, in Proceedings of Symposium on TissueCulture of Horicultural Crops, Mar. 8-9, 1988, Department ofHorticulture, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, pp. 181-188;all of which are hereby incorporated herein in their entirety byreference.

Example 4 Elf18 Peptides from Diverse Phytopathogenic Bacteria areActive as PAMPs

Using available genomic information, synthetic peptides were obtainedcorresponding to elf18 peptides derived from EF-Tu sequences of relevantpythopathogenic bacteria. Based on sequence identity, these peptidesgroup into 8 groups (FIG. 7). The elf18 region from CandidatusLiberibacter asiaticus str. Psy62, the causal agent of Citrus Greening,was identified recently but not yet tested for its eliciting activity.All peptides of the other peptide in FIG. 7 have been tested for theirabilities to induce an oxidative burst in wild-type leaves ofArabidopsis thaliana Col-0. The elf18 peptides derived from Xanthomonascampestris pv campestris 8004 and B100 and Pseudomonas syringae pv.syringae DC3000 show a very low eliciting activity, while all the otherpeptides show activities equal of superior to the elf18 peptide derivedfrom Escherichia coli used here as a positive control (FIG. 8). Thedifferential activities of the peptides will be further tested in thefuture over a range of concentrations. This experiment clearly showsthat recognition of EF-Tu will occur after exposure with many differentphytopathogenic bacteria. Additional tests will be conducted with crudeextracts from bacteria without known EF-Tu sequence to test for EF-Tuactivity.

Example 5 Transgenic Tomatoes and Potatoes Stably Expressing AtEFR

The transgenic 35S::EFR tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum cv. Moneymaker)described above in Example 2 were taken to T2 homozygous stage, andlines were confirmed that gained elf18 responsiveness (data not shown).Seeds are now available for these lines. Similarly the gain of elf18responsiveness has been confirmed in several independent transgenic EFRpotato lines (Solanum tuberosum cv. Desiree) (data not shown). Tubersare now available for these lines.

Two independent 35S::EFR tomato lines showed a strong disease resistanceto the hyper-virulent bacterium Ralstonia solanacearum GMI1000 (FIG. 9),the causal agent of bacterial wilt in many Solanaceae species. Theseresults demonstrate that the methods of the present invention approachcan be used in economically relevant Solanaceae species and are alsoefficient against vascular pathogens that infect the plant via theroots.

Example 6 Resistance of Transgenic Tomato Expressing EFR to Xanthomonasperforans

T3 Solanum lycopersicum cv. Moneymaker lines transgenic for 35S::EFRwere grown until true leaflets formed. Xanthomonas perforans T4 strain4B (the causal agent of bacterial spot disease, also referred to asXanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria) was grown overnight, andsuspended in 1 mM MgCl₂, 0.008% Silwet L77 to an OD₆₀₀=0.01 (˜10⁷cfu/mL). The first fully expanded true leaflet on each of 3 plants wasrepeatedly dipped into 500 mL of the bacterial suspension for 30seconds. The leaves were air dried and a 1 cm² leaf disk was collectedfrom each of the three plants. Each disk was ground in 1 mL of 1 mMMgCl₂, and 50 uL plated on rich agar medium containing 50 ug/mL eachrifampicin (to select for the X. perforans) and cycloheximide (toinhibit fungal growth). This initial sampling was designated T=0. Eachinoculated leaflet, still attached to the plants, was covered with aplastic bag for 3 days provide high humidity favoring bacterial growth.At 14 days after inoculation, leaf samples were collected, processed,and plated as described above, with 3 leaflet sampled for each genotype.Serial dilutions (between 10⁻² and 10⁻⁷) were used to obtain useablecolony counts. The entire experiment was carried out twice.

The results showed that control, untransformed Moneymaker supportedgrowth of the bacterial to between 10⁷ and 10⁸ cfu/mL. The twoindependent lines expressing EFR [L(16) and P(1)] supported at least10-fold less growth (FIGS. 10 and 11), clearly demonstrating thesuppressive effect of EFR expression in tomato on growth of the pathogenX. perforans. As a positive control, S. lycopersicum cv. VF36 expressingthe major dominant R gene Bs2 from pepper was simultaneously infected,and showed approximately 100-fold less growth than non-transgenic VF36or Moneymaker.

The article “a” and “an” are used herein to refer to one or more thanone (i.e., to at least one) of the grammatical object of the article. Byway of example, “an element” means one or more element.

Throughout the specification the word “comprising,” or variations suchas “comprises” or “comprising,” will be understood to imply theinclusion of a stated element, integer or step, or group of elements,integers or steps, but not the exclusion of any other element, integeror step, or group of elements, integers or steps.

All publications and patent applications mentioned in the specificationare indicative of the level of those skilled in the art to which thisinvention pertains. All publications and patent applications are hereinincorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individualpublication or patent application was specifically and individuallyindicated to be incorporated by reference.

Although the foregoing invention has been described in some detail byway of illustration and example for purposes of clarity ofunderstanding, it will be obvious that certain changes and modificationsmay be practiced within the scope of the appended claims.

1. A method for enhancing the resistance of a plant to at least one bacterial pathogen, said method comprising the steps of: (a) transforming a plant cell with a polynucleotide construct comprising a promoter and a nucleotide sequence that encodes an EF-Tu receptor (EFR), wherein said promoter is operably linked to said nucleotide sequence and said promoter is capable of driving expression of said nucleotide sequence in a plant cell; and (b) regenerating a transformed plant from said transformed plant cell; wherein said transformed plant has enhanced resistance to at least one bacterial pathogen.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said nucleotide sequence encodes an Arabidopsis thaliana EF-Tu receptor (AtEFR).
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein said nucleotide sequence is selected from the group consisting of: (i) the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1 or 3; (ii) a nucleotide sequence encoding the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 2; (iii) a nucleotide sequence having at least 85% identity to the full-length of the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1; (iv) a nucleotide sequence having at least 85% identity to the full-length of the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 3; and (v) a nucleotide sequence encoding an amino acid sequence having at least 85% identity to the full-length of the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:
 1. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein said nucleotide sequence is selected from the group consisting of EFR coding sequences that correspond to loci AT3G47110, AT5G39390, AT3G47580, AT3G47570, AT3G47090, and AT2G24130 of the Arabidopsis genome.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein said promoter is the AtEFR promoter.
 6. The method of claim 4, wherein said promoter comprises SEQ ID NO:
 5. 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the promoter is selected from the group consisting of constitutive promoters, pathogen-inducible promoters, tissue-preferred promoters, and chemical-regulated promoters.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the polynucleotide construct is stably integrated into the genome the transformed plant.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein said transformed plant further comprises at least one R gene.
 10. The method of claim 9, where said R gene comprises recombinant DNA.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein said transformed plant further comprises a nucleotide sequence encoding the Bs2 protein, a nucleotide sequence encoding the Bs3 protein, or a nucleotide sequence encoding the Bs2 protein and a nucleotide sequence encoding the Bs3 protein.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein said plant is a dicot.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein said plant is selected from the group consisting tomato, potato, tobacco, and pepper.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein said plant is a monocot.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein said plant is banana.
 16. A transformed plant comprising stably incorporated in its genome a polynucleotide construct comprising a promoter and a nucleotide sequence that encodes an EFR, wherein said promoter is operably linked to said nucleotide sequence and said promoter is capable of driving expression of said nucleotide sequence in a plant cell.
 17. The transformed plant of claim 16, wherein said nucleotide sequence encodes an Arabidopsis thaliana EF-Tu receptor (AtEFR).
 18. The transformed plant of claim 17, wherein said nucleotide sequence is selected from the group consisting of: (a) the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1 or 3; (b) a nucleotide sequence encoding the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 2; (c) a nucleotide sequence having at least 85% identity to the full-length of the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1; (d) a nucleotide sequence having at least 85% identity to the full-length of the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 3; and (e) a nucleotide sequence encoding an amino acid sequence having at least 85% identity to the full-length of the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:
 1. 19. The transformed plant of claim 16, wherein said nucleotide sequence is selected from the group consisting of EFR coding sequences that correspond to loci AT3G47110, AT5G39390, AT3G47580, AT3G47570, AT3G47090, and AT2G24130 of the Arabidopsis genome.
 20. A seed of the transformed plant of claim 16, wherein said seed comprises said polynucleotide construct.
 21. An expression cassette comprising a promoter and a nucleotide sequence that encodes an EFR, wherein said promoter is operably linked to said nucleotide sequence and said promoter is capable of driving expression of said nucleotide sequence in a host cell.
 22. A non-human host cell transformed with the expression cassette of claim
 21. 23. The host cell of claim 22, wherein said host cell is selected from the group consisting of a plant cell, an animal cell, a bacterial cell, and a fungal cell.
 24. A transformed plant comprising the expression cassette of claim
 21. 